Koushirou's Search 2010
by Relaxing Pikachu
Summary: News from his parents makes him curious about his real ones. He's now wondering why he was put up for adoption and has gone in search of them with Mimi's help. Story will have an alt ending; read AN for more info.
1. 01  The Assignment!

Hi everyone. I decided to see how my writing has improved over the years, and decided to try my best to do this one over. This story was originally written and started August 24, 2001 and was finished July 20, 2002. The basis will pretty much be the same and so will most of the Author's Notes, with maybe something added in, but I will get rid of some unnecessary things, like the original intro to this fic. The inspiration to attempt rewriting this comes from **Yoshi-san** from Bulbagarden. Hmm, I'm _almost_ tempted to rewrite the ending of this fic since I originally had two endings for it.

The ending I used in the original ended kind of ambiguously...sort of. For this one I plan on writing out the other ending I originally had in mind for it. So yeah, this story is getting the alternate ending. The reason I ended the original fic the way I did was because of the sequel I wanted to write to it, but the whole idea has been scrapped. Think of this story as maybe the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. That game technically had two endings. One ending for Link as a child and then one for Link as an adult. Child Link's story leads to Majora's Mask (which is canon). Adult Link's story...well, now that's open for major speculation (seems Wind Waker would fit that line), but yeah. The ending I used for the original version of this fic would lead to the sequel, which takes place after Adventure 02's epilogue, this one won't.

Adding on, another reason I'm attempting to rewrite this is due to the fact that there were things for this story I wanted to put in here after I finished it, just never got around to it, and also for the inaccuracies that this story originally had. Ironically, the main inaccuracy has a lot to do with how the story started….Koushirou being given an assignment of this particular nature, which was the set up for this story. Another thing that comes to mind is the mentioning of detention. For the most part, students don't have "detention" in Japan. Anyway, if you would like to read through the original, knock yourself out.

* * *

Hello everyone. Here is a new fic for you, and it is based on something that I had wanted to write about for a long time. A story involving Koushirou (Izzy) finding out more about his biological parents. The catch to this is that he knows that he is adopted, but his adoptive parents still don't _know_ that he does. The conversation that the three of them had in Digimon Adventure never occurred for this story's continuity and that will create quite a bit of conflict. As for those to show up for this story, Koushirou is a definite candidate. Mimi too, of course, since she will be in his class. I'm also not sure about "romance"…yet.

Like I say for all of these, anything shown in _italics_ indicates that it is a flashback (only for short sequences, anyway). Any dialogue using single quotation marks indicates that the character is thinking, unless used in a grammatically correct fashion. Anything with an asterisk by it means that there is a note about it at the end of the chapter.

Oh yes, I would also like to thank **Riah-chan** for helping with this fic unknowingly when originally writing it. She helped out when it came to the drama stuff and correcting some of my Japanese.

Now, as always, I do not own any of the characters or places in this story. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and here are the ages of everyone.

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 01: The Assignment…

A bird chirped cheerfully as it flew through the clear blue sky of the innovative island of Odaiba, which was located in the Minato ward of the country's capital. Odaiba was known for its leisurely activities, such as attending musical performances at Zepp Tokyo, or even heading over to Aqua City to do some shopping. Of course, on such a bright afternoon, one would expect to see many people out and about, especially with spring approaching, and the snow from the winter months melting away, but not for the children of Odaiba. This was definitely a school day, and at Odaiba Junior High, there was a Japanese History Class already in session…

"Okay class," a young, dark-haired man in his late 20s wearing thin-rimmed glasses began, "it's time for your mandatory extra credit assignment."

All of the students of class 2-B groaned. One student in particular waved his arm around wildly, calling, "Ishidzuka-sensei, Ishidzuka-sensei!"

"Yes, Tomokazu-kun?"

The boy with the medium-lengthened black hair stood. "Since when is extra credit mandatory?"

"Since the majority of you scored low on the last test I gave out, which means that you all won't get to be third years without it!"

"Are you _serious_?" asked the boy fearfully. The majority of the rest of the class looked a bit worrisome as well. This was definitely out of the ordinary. "Not all of us are making bad marks!"

"It doesn't really matter now, does it? The extra credit could probably do most of you some good, _you_ included," he responded sternly.

Seki retook his seat, embarrassed. A few of the students were whispering to one another, saying things like, "Would the PTA allow something like that?" and "Isn't this like high school work?" Another student, though, was laughing loudly at his cousin's embarrassment.

"Ueda-kun!" The man glared at the boy. "Is there something amusing you as of the moment?"

Yuuji stood up at the speed of light, his face partially red, and his somewhat long, shiny, jet-black hair swishing. "No, sir."

"If it isn't your cousin acting up, it's you," the man mumbled under his breath while massaging his temples. "You can sit now." With an embarrassed grin, he took his seat quickly, while Seki silently laughed. "Now, for your assignment, I would like for you all to write about your _true_ family. I'm interested in your ancestry. How you decide to do this assignment is entirely up to you."

Most of the students wrote down the odd teacher's instructions, as he continued explaining his expectations of them. He was pretty well-known for his…modern way of teaching, as he wasn't all about lecturing and constantly insisted, and demanded, that his students give their input and opinions. Most attributed that to the fact that he had once studied overseas.

One 14-year-old student frowned at the assignment. He'd always disliked doing anything which would involve his having to volunteer information on his family or his parents. He didn't dislike his family, but he did feel like he was lying whenever having to speak about his "true" family.

The redheaded student was none other than the computer whiz, Izumi Koushirou. He remained seated, deep in thought over the assignment. His train of thought, though, was soon broken by that of a young girl's voice. "Koushirou! Koushirou! Come on! It's time to go home."

He looked up to see a girl wearing their school's dark-green winter fuku, who of which he considered a pretty good friend. He'd known her for years, anyway. "Oh, hey, Mimi-san."

The young girl with the long, wavy light-brown hair, was Odaiba Junior High's popular, outgoing Tachikawa Mimi. She'd moved back to Odaiba months earlier, right after the spring break. It was tough transferring in at that time of the year, but she managed to do so thanks to the family she was currently living with...the Nishimuras, which consisted of her aunt, Nishimura Sué, her husband – Mimi's uncle, Nishimura Kichibei – and their two children, four-year-old Nishimura Isako, and one-year-old Nishimura Ton.

Sué was Mimi's father's younger sister by nearly ten years, who worked at a local Kindergarten near her home. At first, she was hesitant and skeptical on moving back to Odaiba and living with her aunt and her fairly new family, as she felt she would be intruding, but she really wanted to return. She enjoyed America fine and had learned a lot, but she had grown homesick and missed her friends back in Odaiba.

When she passed the idea along to her aunt and uncle, they were both thrilled to have her, as she was her aunt's favorite niece and despite the age difference between Mimi and her cousins, she got along with the two very well. Seems that the only ones who had objected to the idea of her moving back, were her parents. They were against her going back and living there without them, but Mimi insisted that it would be good for her. It took a while, but they gave in, as they did want what was best for their daughter.

"Koushirou, why are you still sitting there? School's over."

Koushirou stood up, grabbing his book bag, which was hanging on the side of his desk. "Well, I-"

"Mimi-chan!" a person called before the redhead could finish.

"Wait up, Mimi-chan!" another voice chimed in.

Mimi turned to see two familiar boys slightly taller than Koushirou, running up to her. "Seki-kun, Yuuji-kun…"

"Hi, Mimi-chan," Yuuji greeted. "Would you like for me to walk you home?"

"_You_?" Seki scoffed. "_I _was going to ask if she wanted _me_ to walk her home!"

"Don't you have to stay after school for a punishment or something?"

"Me? _You're _the one who gets in trouble all the time, and our homeroom teacher keeps you back!" the boy retorted heatedly. "Besides, Mimi-chan _wants_ to walk home with me!"

"No she doesn't," Yuuji intensely argued back, his face turning red, "she wants _me_ to walk her home!"

"No, me!"

"Me!"

"I _said_ me!"

The two continued to argue. Koushirou just stared at the two, surprised at their display, while Mimi gave the two an uneasy smile. "B-boys, please don't fight."

"Who do you want to walk you home?" Yuuji asked while flashing the girl a toothy smile. "Would you like for the handsome, wonderful me to walk you home," he glared at the boy beside him, "or my annoying cousin?"

"_Annoying_!"

"That's a perfect description for you."

"Why, I should-"

"I'm sorry you two," interrupted Mimi, "but Koushirou is going to walk me home."

Dumbfounded, both boys stared at Koushirou. "Huh?"

The redhead blinked in stupidity. "I am?"

"We better get going," Mimi motioned while giving Koushirou a sweet smile. "I promised to get home to help Sué-bachan with dinner tonight." She grabbed Koushirou's arm. "Bye, Seki-kun, Yuuji-kun." She pulled the boy out of the classroom, leaving behind a surprised Seki and Yuuji.

"Izumi? Why would she rather walk home with him than with the handsome me?"

"You probably scared her off," sniggered Seki.

"Hey!" the boy growled at his cousin.

Seki backed off. "I'm just joking," he insisted while waving his hands. He knew how easy it was to push his cousin's buttons, and usually enjoyed doing so. Content with his cousin's temperament being back at a normal level, he stared at the door. "I don't understand Mimi-chan. She's one of the more popular people in school, but she hangs around Izumi a lot."

"I don't remember them being good friends before," Yuuji pointed out while scratching the back of his head. "We've always had classes with those two, even back when we were all in Odaiba Elementary School. I don't remember Mimi-chan hanging out with Izumi much at all in year 4. Doesn't seem she did that until _after_ our summer break that year. That was still..." the boy counted out on his fingers, "…1999. They seemed to become good friends after that."

"I'm actually surprised they managed to remain good friends, especially since Mimi-chan was gone for a couple of years."

"That's just weird."

"Well, Yuuji, we better get going. We promised to help my father at his store this afternoon since most of the clubs aren't meeting this week."

"Aww." He kicked at the floor and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I wanted to play you in a game of Table Tennis."

"It's not like you're _in_ the actual Table Tennis Club like I am. I'd cream you anyway."

"That's because I'm not good enough for it."

"What about baseball and basketball? You like both of those, _and_ you play them a lot; why don't you join one of those clubs? I don't know why you haven't gotten in trouble yet for _not_ being in a club, unless helping out at my father's store counts as volunteer work or something to make up for it."

"I'm not good enough for those either," he grumbled.

"You know," the boy started with small laugh, "you really shouldn't let Mimi-chan ever hear you say something like that. She'd persuade you into joining in an instant, and then probably give you a speech about how you can succeed and all that good stuff. She'd then seal the deal with her beautiful, signature smile."

"Yeah, Mimi-chan is like that," Yuuji sighed dreamily. "She always tries her best to cheer people up."

"What she says is probably true, though."

"I still wouldn't mind playing a game before we leave."

"Too bad, you promised to help me, let's go!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming…"

* * *

After escaping the two cousins, Koushirou and Mimi continued their walk down the emptying school corridors.

"So, what's the matter?"

He just shrugged and mumbled, "Nothing."

"I _know_ something is wrong!"

"No, really, it's noth-"

"Izumi Koushirou-kun," the girl firmly cried while stopping her pace, and putting her free hand on her hip, "you do _not_ sound convincing, sincere, or pure with your feelings right now! I can _tell_ that you're lying! Now, what is it?"

Koushirou knew there wasn't much he could say or do to persuade his friend otherwise. It was surprising how he'd yet to learn his lesson whenever it came to her. She was always the type to try and get down to the root of a problem and seemed to like things to be harmonious and didn't care for pessimistic views. He hadn't noticed that about her when younger, but he definitely did since she'd been back for almost a year. He resumed walking. Mimi took suit. "If you must know, I'm just not up to doing this history research assignment. It's out of the ordinary as it is, and I'm surprised that Ishidzuka-sensei is even allowed to give such assignments and teach in the way that he does." *The threat of their being failed was the biggest oddity of the situation.

"You know, the way Ishidzuka-sensei teaches, is similar to how it was for me when in America. I'm glad he's like that. It makes learning more fun, and I know _you _like the way he teaches too, and most of the others do too. I look forward to his history lessons, even if some of it is boring. Anyway, maybe you can get excused from doing the assignment."

"Wait, you were exempt from having to do the assignment?"

She nodded. "I spoke with Ishidzuka-sensei while you were staring off into space. Since I have a 92% average for his class, he said that I could get out of doing it."

"But he made that threat of the assignment being _manda_tory."

"But, I really can't do this assignment to its fullest. My parents are abroad."

"But what about the family you're staying with and your other Japanese family?"

"I'd rather talk to my parents, to be honest, and some of my older relatives are no longer with us. He did say that if I wanted to go on with it that I could."

"Hmm, maybe I should talk to him."

"He's probably in the teacher's room."

With the task set, the two detoured from their walk to leave the school to head to the teacher's room. Once arriving at the door, Koushirou hesitated. "Koushirou, go on in."

"I'm not sure if I should…what if he's not even there? What if we're not even allowed in there?"

"Why _wouldn't_ we be allowed to go in? We're students with questions! It's perfectly allowed and you know it! You should know that better than anyone being head of the Computer Club!"

Not waiting for a response, Mimi knocked, opened the sliding door and pushed Koushirou inside, saying, "*Shitsureishimasu". To the surprise of both, they saw the lavender-haired, 13-year-old Inoue Miyako. Koushirou pretty much considered Miyako to be one of his best friends, as he did Mimi, to some extent. He felt that both were his best female friends, currently. Mimi was very good at cheering one up, and Miyako was good at giving pep talks to get one motivated to do almost anything, but seemed she was only like this with friends and family.

When he was younger, he would've definitely considered his best female friend to be Sora, since he'd known her for such a long time, even before his first adventure in the Digital World. Now that Sora was older, and busy with a various amount of other school related activities, he rarely had the time to speak with her much. When he was in his final year at Odaiba Elementary, and Sora had graduated to Odaiba Junior High, the two still didn't spend much time together due to their different years, and the same applied with his best male friend, Taichi. Due to this, Koushirou started to spend a little bit more time by himself, until Miyako and Mimi both came along.

"Hey there, Izumi-senpai, Mimi-oneesama," the girl greeted brightly while pushing her slipping glasses back onto her nose. "What are you two doing here?"

"We're looking for our history teacher," Mimi explained.

"How come you're here?" asked Koushirou.

"I have *classroom duty this week. We needed some more cleaner for the desks, so I came to ask my homeroom teacher where I could find some more."

"Isn't it a bit late to still be cleaning?" asked Mimi. "We usually have cleaning time after lunch."

"I know, but, one of the guys in my class spilled some stuff, so we're cleaning it again. I don't like it, but what can I do? Either way, I better hurry up and finish if I want to join up with Ken-kun and the others this afternoon since we don't have any club meetings." The girl waved to the two. "See you later."

After Miyako was long gone, Koushirou and Mimi continued on, realizing that the room was empty, with the exception of the vice-principal who was busy writing up something. Koushirou just figured that most of the other teachers had other things to deal with at the moment. They made their way towards the spot that Mr. Ishidzuka usually sat, and saw him there. The man was seated contently, while reading a paper and sipping on a cup of tea. "Go," hissed Mimi.

"Um…h-hi there, Ishidzuka-sensei," Koushirou managed to get out, as it felt like his voice wanted to leave him.

The man took his attention from off of the newspaper, and looked over the rims of his glasses. "Hey there. Two of my _good_ students. So, what's the problem, Izumi-kun?"

"Well, um…you see…it's just…er…"

"Yes?"

"It's about our assignment."

"Yes, what about it?"

The boy looked down at the floor, fumbling and shifting his shoulders. "I-I was wondering if I could, possibly get out of doing the assignment like Mimi-san. I have a decent average as well and have kept it there all year."

The man took off his glasses, and gave him a curious look. "Is there any reason why you want to get out of my assignment? I know it's different, but you all should be used of that by now."

Dejected, Koushirou sighed out, "No, sir. I don't have one."

"Then I can't allow it." He slipped his glasses back on, and sat back in his chair, making himself more comfortable. "The situation of Tachikawa-san is a bit different since she's not currently staying with her immediate family, but with outside family. Her living arrangements are special. She's the only person I'm giving the option to on whether to do the assignment or not."

"Yes sir."

"To be honest, Izumi-kun, I would _really_ like you to work on this project. I've noticed it through our discussions in class. Anything involving the past of anyone, you get unusually quiet about it. You don't participate to your full extent, and I'm hoping this assignment will help to open you up a bit. In a way, you could say that you were the inspiration for the assignment."

'Why did _I_ have to get this new age teacher? I don't _want_ to do this assignment! I _can't_! It wouldn't be right…' Koushirou nodded slightly. "Yes sir. You're right, sir. That's why I didn't want to do this assignment. I'm very bad at history that involves stuff like that."

"I just want you to work to your full potential. Tachikawa-san here usually does well on assignments and in discussions involving this type of subject."

"Thank you, sir."

"I've been observing the whole class, so don't think I'm singling you out, Izumi-kun."

"Yes sir," he responded dully.

Koushirou turned to head out, along with Mimi, when the older man called to them. The two turned to see what he wanted. "Izumi-kun, since you don't have much of a knack for this type of thing, I would like for you to have a partner."

"A partner, sir?"

"Yes. I want Tachikawa-san to be your partner on this. Since she's the only person who is exempt from this assignment, she could help you with yours."

"I would be honored to help out, sir. I was going to maybe write about my aunt's family, but helping Koushirou-kun sounds like it'd be much more fun."

"Good. Now, you two better head home and get some work done."

"Yes, Ishidzuka-sensei."

"Shitsureishimashita." Both walked out, Koushirou partially scowling, as a couple of other teachers entered the room. His teacher noticed this and shook his head. He just didn't understand the boy, and pulled out his mobile phone…

* * *

"That didn't do any good," the boy grumbled, while changing into his outdoor shoes.

"Aww, stop worrying!" Mimi opened up her shoe-sized locker very cautiously. One thing she was known for, was receiving love-letters from the boys of the school. There were a lot of them just that morning. Relieved there weren't a bundle of letters waiting for her, she put in her school shoes, and took out her outdoor shoes. "I'm sure you'll do a good job on your assignment, especially since I'm helping you."

"Yeah, I guess so." The two had finished, and headed out the school.

"So, when do you want to start the project?"

The redhead inwardly rolled his eyes, and huffed annoyingly. "You know, I don't feel like talking about that now. Do you still want me to walk you home?"

"Not if you're going to have that cranky attitude," the girl snapped.

"I'm sorry. I just have a lot on my mind. I'll accompany you home."

"Oh-kay," she began slowly, wishing he'd speak a little less formally, "but you don't have to if you don't want to."

"I honestly don't mind." Mimi liked his response, as he sounded truly sincere this time around. "It's very nice out, and it's good that I don't have a club meeting today."

"Oh yeah. There's no Computer Club meeting for you or Miyako-chan today. Too bad everyone else seems to be busy. Both Sora-san and Taichi-san are busy with the Tennis Club and Soccer Club and Yamato-san has his own band to worry about and practice with. At least one good thing is that their clubs should all be ending early this week."

"What about your club meet?"

"I'm just going to skip it this once."

"Wait, why? Are you allowed to do that?"

"The Volleyball Club can miss me this once; besides, I promised to help my aunt today. I talked with coach during gym today."

As the two continued the long walk, they managed to talk about most anything they could think of, which consisted mostly of their other friends of the Chosen Children (Digidestined), but every time Mimi got on the topic of their history project, Koushirou would abruptly change the subject. Mimi gave up on trying to get him to discuss it, and came up with a craftier idea. She knew of one of the boy's weaknesses, and was going to use it to her advantage.

"Well, you're home."

The Nishimura family lived in a big house, which had a gate, two floors, five bedrooms, and even a spacious attic. The suburban neighborhood was also very nice, as each house there was built in similar fashions. It was evident to most that the Nishimura family was well off financially, as owning a house in a place like Odaiba was usually expensive, unless in a rural area, which Odaiba wasn't known for.

Mimi's aunt loved her job and children. Since she was a teacher at the local Kindergarten, both Isako and Ton could attend the school. Isako was a student there, and the facilities had a special section for infants. She didn't have to worry about having someone come to the house to watch Ton. As for Mimi's uncle, he worked for a successful law firm, and was just recently promoted to partner.

"Want to come in?"

"I don't think that I-"

"I could make you a snack," Mimi told him coyly.

"A snack?"

"Yes, some nice *ohagi. I made some last night, and I just _know_ how much you love it. I got the recipe from the mother of Iori-kun. Miyako-chan told me how much you loved them and it took me a long time to make them. I could use a taste tester."

"Ohagi? R-really? You made ohagi?" He shook his head. "No! I have to pass." He felt like crying, since he loved the dessert treat. "I really have to get home."

"W-well, if you have to go," she blinked. 'I was going to get him to talk! So much for my plan.'

"I'm sorry, I really am."

"Don't worry. I'll bring you some tomorrow to have with your lunch. You _will_ taste them."

The boy grinned in spite of himself. "I look forward to it."

"Neechan!" both heard a voice call. They turned to see a small girl run up and smother Mimi in a big hug.

"Isako-chan! Hi there!"

After getting out of Mimi's embrace, the small child with her long, bright hair in two pigtails, turned to face Koushirou. "Konban wa, Kou-niichan," Isako said with a bow.

"She really is polite."

"Yeah, she's _very_ polite for her age," Koushirou complimented. "Hello there, *Isako. How are you today?"

"I'm doing great! I had a lot of fun at school today!"

"That's very nice, but I have to get going. I'm sorry. Bye Mimi-san. I will see you in school tomorrow. Isako, please say hello to your mother for me."

Koushirou walked off, while the girl waved to him. "Bye bye Kou-niichan! I'll say hi for you!" Mimi could only stare at her redheaded friend as he exited through the gate. She still couldn't help but wonder why he was reacting to the assignment in such a way. "I'm so glad that you're home, neechan! I learned how to read a new word today! Can I show you?"

"Of course, but I have to help your mother first just like I promised."

"Okay! Mama is making sweet treats for after dinner."

The girl grabbed Mimi's hand, and both entered the luxurious home…

Author's Notes

Note 1: In Japan, the students are given the responsibility of keeping the schools clean. Everyday, the students have to clean it up, and that includes the teacher's room and the principal's office. The time of the day that the classroom gets cleaned depends on the actual school. This not only keeps the school clean and tidy, but it also is used to teach the children responsibility and how to get along with others, somewhat.  
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Note 2: The description of Ishidzuka for this story is an interesting one, eh? Anyway, this is one of the "changes" for this story. When this was originally written, I didn't know too much about how the schools worked in Japan as far as assignments were concerned. With Ishidzuka's character, I am trying to establish that he is far from being your traditional Japanese teacher, hence his teaching methods. Traditionally, such a class would consist mostly of lecturing. Also, in Japan, students can't really be failed, which also shows how out of place the threat he made was. Now, in _high school _you can technically not pass, since high school in Japan is optional and the students test into it. There's a lot of emphasis on doing well if one is planning to head off to college someday. Oh, and also, in Japan, they don't use a grading scale with letter grades…instead, they go by percentages.  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Note 3: "Shitsurei shimasu" pretty much means, "please excuse me for entering" or something like that. That's the best I can come up with for that phrase. I guess you could say it's another, more formal way of saying, "excuse me".

"Shitsurei shimashita" is just past-tense.  
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Note 4: In the very first US dub episode of Digimon Adventure 02, Koushirou (Izzy), Iori (Cody), and Miyako (Yolei) were eating "brownies". In the original, they were eating ohagi. Ohagi is pretty much a sweet rice ball. In the original version of the show, it was referenced that Iori's mother was a very good cook.  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Note 5: "Neechan" is one way of saying "sister" and I only used it in this particular way since the girl is so young. "Oneesama" is another, as well as "oneechan" and "oneesan" and "neesan". Miyako uses "oneesama" with Mimi at times, which shows that she really respects Mimi and sees her as a sisterly figure. Miyako also sometimes call her Mimi-sama. In the beginning, though, she would use Mimi-san.

It's pretty common for younger children to use an honorific that can mean brother or sister with an older person, and the person doesn't have to be family for it to be used. If I'm remembering it correctly, Takeru's even done so with Taichi. In the episode where Yamato abandoned him, in Takeru's eyes, he clung onto Taichi, and referred to him as brother since he was the only one around.  
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Note 6: Koushirou's character is the type to use honorifics with everyone. To be honest, I'm not sure how he'd actually address a girl as young as Isako. His using the -chan honorific here, seems like it'd be out of character for him. I couldn't even imagine him using it. We've never seen him interact with a child much younger than himself, let alone a female character. He does use the –kun honorific with Miyako, but that shows how casual and comfortable he is with her, as he uses the -san honorific with Hikari, which indicates that, at the time, he probably still had his adoption complex. I'll get into this more, later, though. Hm, another reason he may use "-kun" with Miyako is maybe because he was head of the Computer Club and she was under him...you know, the whole senpai and kohai thing Who knows, though.


	2. 02  Koushirou's Surprising News

Hi again everyone. I hope that the last chapter wasn't _too _boring. I suppose that this particular story falls under the "drama" genre with a little bit of angst in some parts later on. Also, as a reminder, the ages and school grades of the children are their Japanese ones. The dub was a bit inconsistent with them. For instance, in the dub of Adventure 02, I'm pretty sure that "Joe" was in his last year of high school for it and other times, I heard that he was in medical school. Like I said, the ages and grades were much too inconsistent to even _consider_ using.

Something else I must add onto here…the names in the first chapter. Three in particular I didn't make up. Ueda Yuuji and Tomokazu Seki, which was mainly used since I sorta had Pokemon on the brain. The names are borrowed, so to speak. Tomokazu Seki is the seiyuu for Kenji (Tracey) from the Pokemon series, and is also known for his voice work on series like Fushigi Yuugi (Kouji and Chichiri), Fruits Basket (Kyo), and Chobits (Shinbo). Ueda Yuuji voices Takeshi (Brock) from Pokemon, and is also known for his voice work on series like Love Hina (Keitaro), Chobits (Hiroyasu) Rurouni Kenshin (Sagara). Both have done many voice-over roles over the years and are definitely, in some ways, "veteran" seiyuu.

The third person is Ishidzuka. Ishizuka Unshou voices Ookido Yukinari/Ookido-hakase (Professor Oak; not sure of his dub given name) of Pokemon. He is known for voicing characters in such series like Cowboy Bebop (Jet) and Hellsing (Peter).

I know these weren't very creative, but at the time, my mind was really blank on names. Now, the names of all of the other characters shall be original, but if they just happen to resemble a real person's name, then it's a total coincidence.

Oh yes, just so you know, this story takes place March 12, 2004 – March 19, 2004, July 2004, and then November 2004 and then a little bonus after that (December 2004), but I don't want to spoil it, as it will be new to the older readers and the newer ones, which is why the ages are the way that they are. When the story starts, they're in whatever year is listed, but in July, they would be in their next year because of how the Japanese school year works.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 02: The Surprising News for Koushirou…

Koushirou made his way home, taking his time, tuning out the world and the cars zooming by. He headed to the same place he'd lived since the Hikarigaoka (Heighton View Terrace) incident nearly ten years earlier along with his "father" and "mother". The more he thought of his parents, the sicker he felt as far as the assignment was concerned. He was usually always up to a challenge, but this time was different for him. He knew that if he worked to his full potential that everyone would discover his secret. A secret he never purposely intended to keep. The only reason he kept this secret, was because his own parents had kept it secret from him…a secret that had been haunting and plaguing his mind since he'd unintentionally discovered it as a young child. Here he was, nearly 15 years old, about to enter his final year at Odaiba Junior High, and his own _parents_ kept an important fact about Koushirou secret…about his not being their real son…

He'd finally made it to his apartment complex, and climbed up the stairs to the floor of which his family was on. He wasn't in the mood to take the elevator. Once reaching his door, he took in a deep breath, and entered. "Mother, I'm home…" he called out routinely as he stepped out of his shoes and into his slippers, which were left by his female caregiver. He was anxious to get to his room to just be alone with his thoughts, although he didn't get too far.

"Koushirou, wait a minute."

The boy stopped and turned to face the woman who claimed to be his mother. Even though the shorter woman wasn't, he loved her as well as her husband very much. They were the only parental figures he'd ever had in his life, but at times, he felt as if he didn't belong to this family, especially when it came to strange food combinations. Even the way he preferred his toast was out of the ordinary of the average Japanese individual. Some used condiments such as strawberry jam or something tangy like marmalade or just ate it plain with butter. Koushirou, on the other hand, *liked his toast with slices of avocado and apple topped with imported honey.

"Yes mother?"

The woman fidgeted with her apron, while looking everyplace except the boy. "Well, I…erm…"

"Is something wrong?" Koushirou asked in alarm. "You said something about getting a check up today. Is everything okay?"

The woman shook her head. "I can wait to share this," she told him uneasily.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she insisted with her signature smile. One thing she was known for was her bright, bubbly personality, which was usually accompanied with a warm, gentle smile. Growing up with Mrs. Izumi made it easy for him to hang around with Mimi, who was similar in that particular way, as she too was bubbly. "Just make sure you unglue yourself from that computer of yours for dinner later."

He nodded. "Do you need help with anything?"

"No, not at all, but I _did_ make you a snack." The woman rushed back to the kitchen, and returned with a tray which held a glass of a dark substance and a plate of about three round shaped balls. "I made you some *onigiri and some oolong tea, two of your favorite things."

"Wow, thanks!" He took the tray. "What filling did you use for the onigiri?"

"Now now, it's a surprise," she winked to him, "but I will give you a couple of hints. It's a sweet filling, since I know how much you love sweets, and there's no avocado in it."

Koushirou looked a bit put out. He loved avocado, but he soon smiled again. It was something sweet, after all. With that, the boy headed to his room, where he set down his tray, and tossed down his book bag.

'I think I'll talk to Masami about Koushirou's behavior and that phone call later,' the woman decided while making her way back to the kitchen. 'Right now, I have more pressing things to worry about, like how I'm going to break the news to Koushirou about my doctor's visit…'

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the luxurious Nishimura home in the somewhat larger than average Japanese kitchen…

"Mimi-chan," an older woman with dark, short hair called, "could you slice up two more carrots and chop up one more small onion please?"

"Sure thing, Sué-obachan."

The once sheltered city girl was now quite the cook, and to her surprise, she really enjoyed baking and cooking very much. There was one thing she still didn't like doing too much, and that was the chopping of onion. She didn't know anyone who actually did.

"Thank you _so_ much. With making such a big stew like this, help is always appreciated." She kept watch over the rice for she and Mimi's *Hayashi rice dish, which the family simply loved. "Let's see, everything is cooking nicely, and this beef I bought on the way home should bring out a really good flavor, I feel." The woman was always grateful that even though she worked, she was able to come home earlier than most people, as she worked part-time at the Kindergarten.

Isako, during this time, was sitting down at the small table of the large kitchen, coloring in one of her Pokemon coloring books. Curious, she looked up from her work, and asked, "Doesn't cutting up onion hurt your eyes, neechan?"

"Not if you cut the onion _just_ right."

Isako jumped out of her chair, and followed Mimi, who had walked over to the stove with a knife. She turned on the burner, and held the blade of the knife over it. "What are you doing that for?" she asked.

"The fumes from the onion won't be as strong if you cut the onion with the heated blade of a knife. Another way is to wear a mask, so that you don't inhale the fumes from the onion. I would just hold my breath, or try not to breathe through my nose whenever I have to chop up onion." She started to chop up the onion. "See, no tears, unless it's a _really_ strong onion, then there's nothing you can do about that," she added on with a laugh.

"Wow, I never knew that. Where did you learn that, Mimi-chan?"

The girl placed a finger on her chin, while trying to recall where she'd come across those tips. "I'm not even sure. I probably saw it on television someplace. While in America, I watched a lot of television. I watched way more than I ever did when here since I didn't have much to do when first getting to America."

Sué turned off the rice cooker. "I don't know how my brother or your mother does it. I don't think I'd last one _day_ there, let alone years. I'd have to learn so much just to ask how to get to the bathroom. Was it really difficult for you to learn English to the point where you could speak decently?"

"Yeah, it was at first, but my friend Michael helped me with it. He gave me lessons after we all first moved there. He's one of the people I miss most about New York, and of course some other friends," she put the chopped onion into a frying pan to sauté them, and started slicing up the carrots to add to it as well, "but I do try to keep in touch through mail, e-mail, and phone, especially since Michael has a very good international calling plan for his mobile phone, so he calls me fairly often."

The older woman nodded. "It's really nice to make good friends. Those types of bonds usually last a lifetime, regardless of how far apart you are." She took off her apron, and laid it down on the counter top. "Mimi-chan, I have to go check up on Ton. He should be waking up pretty soon from his nap. Could you keep an eye on things here?"

"Sure."

She thanked the teen, and took off, leaving Mimi and Isako, who had gone back to coloring. Mimi went over to the pot, and added in the sautéed onions and carrots she'd cooked up earlier. After stirring them in, she tasted it. "Hm, this is okay, but it could use a _little_ bit more salt and pepper." She added a couple of pinches of salt and a dash of fresh black pepper. She tasted it again. She smiled in satisfaction. "Perfecto!" she said in English while flashing the victory sign.

"Neechan," began Isako, who had once again, took her attention from her coloring book, "how come Kou-niichan looked sad today?"

Mimi returned the lid to the pot. "Sad?"

The four year old nodded. "When I came out to see you, he looked a little sad, even though he was smiling."

"It's nothing you should worry over. He just doesn't want to do his homework."

"Why?"

She walked over to the table, and sat down, and sighed. "I don't know."

"Is it hard big kids work?"

"No, it's easy work. We have to talk about our mothers and fathers and our brothers and sisters."

"Ooo," Isako clapped in excitement, "that sounds like a lot of fun! I could do that!"

"I know," she smiled to the girl. 'It's still strange that he's acting so stupid over it. Why is it bothering him so much anyway? I wonder if I should even bother him about it when I see him later on tonight…'

"Tadaima!" both girls heard someone call. Isako's eyes lit up as she rushed from the kitchen. Mimi followed behind. At the front door, a somewhat tall man, with dark hair, a slim build, in a dark blue suit, was taking off his shoes.

"Papii!" Isako rushed up to give the man a big bug.

"Hi there, ojisan," Mimi politely greeted. For some reason, she felt she had to be extra nice around her uncle.

"Hello girls," he greeted. "It's great to come home early."

"Guess what, papii! I learned how to read a new book today, and I can read it all by myself! It's a really long book too!"

While Isako talked her head off to her father, Mimi couldn't help but smile at the warm scene. She felt it was so cute how excited Isako was about reading her first book in full, even if the book _was_ pretty short, but, for a child her age, it probably did come across as being "a really long book". Mimi headed back to the kitchen with her uncle and cousin. Pretty soon, Sué walked back into the kitchen with Ton, surprised to see her husband home so soon. It was nice having him home for a change.

"Isako-chan, do you want to help set the table?" asked Mimi.

"I'd love to neechan!"

The two set up all the places at the table, while Mimi and Sué set the foods on it. Once all was said and done, everyone sat down to their meal, even though Mimi was planning on eating lightly… "Itadakimasu!"

* * *

Meanwhile, over in the Izumi kitchen, after the Nishimuras had started their meals…

"So, is it true?" the man with the glasses anxiously asked his wife.

The petite woman shyly nodded with a small smile. "It's affirmative, like Koushirou would say."

"That's great!" Mr. Izumi hugged her. "They really did get through those tests quickly."

"Yes, they did. The doctor called me earlier this afternoon with the results."

"I guess you could say that modern technology is amazing."

"I guess," she began, her smile slightly faltering.

"What's wrong?"

"Well…it's Koushirou. How do you think he'll take the news?"

"I hadn't really thought of that."

"The timing isn't really good. First I got that call from the doctor, and then I received a call from his history teacher."

"Really? A teacher of his called?"

"He _was_ a strange one. I never knew he was, though. We've met him. Seems that his class is doing an assignment for history, and mentioned how Koushirou didn't seem very enthusiastic about doing it. I think he just wanted me to try and help persuade Koushirou into doing the project."

"I guess we'll have to talk to him about it at dinner. What's the project?"

"You know, he never _did_ say. He sounded as if he were in a hurry, so I guess he forgot to say."

"Either way, we'll have to talk to him about it."

Mrs. Izumi nodded slowly, as she started filling bowls and plates with the contents of dinner. Her husband noticed the lack of fervor she had while doing so. After the last place was set, she sighed.

"Don't let this bother you. I'm sure what whatever is going on with Koushirou and his school assignment can be resolved."

"It's not that," the woman admitted somberly, looking down the hall towards Koushirou's room, "it's the other thing."

"He'll take the news fine, I'm sure of it."

"But how long can we actually keep it a secret from him? He's going to start noticing some changes sooner or later. Maybe we should have told him a week ago when we first suspected it."

The man grabbed his wife by the shoulders and gave her an assuring smile. "You're worrying over nothing."

"I just don't know. I-I still feel strange about all of this. I have this odd feeling that it may actually upset Koushirou. I just don't understand why I am expecting the worst of things to happen if sharing this news with him."

"You're probably feeling this way because you're his mother, and-"

"That's just it! I'm _not_ his real mother! Maybe _that's_ what's bothering me! I'm starting to feel guilty more and more each day since we_ haven't_ told him yet."

He turned his head away, and darkly murmured, "There isn't any reason for him to know."

"There has to be _some_ reason! I-I suppose I'm starting to feel awkward now that we know for sure since the doctor called."

"We'll work everything out, don't worry."

Not fully content with her husband's answer, she muttered, "I'll go get Koushirou for dinner."

She walked slowly down the hall to the redhead's room, still unable to shake that worrisome feeling she had concerning her son. She took a deep breath, put on a smile, and knocked on the door. "Koushirou, dinner."

Hearing the knock, Koushirou jumped up from his computer and opened the door. He was definitely ready to eat. The snack from earlier was already gone. After opening the door, he got a weird vibe from her. Sure she was smiling, but it wasn't as cheerful or as bright as it usually was. "Mother, are you okay? Are you certain that you're not sick?"

"Now now, don't you worry about me," she told him as nonchalantly as she could. "I'm fine." Suddenly, she hugged the taller boy tightly. He was confused by her actions, but let her do so anyway. "Koushirou, remember that I'll always love you no matter what, and that you'll _always_ be my son, and how nothing can ever change that."

He could only shrug and nodded out a questionable, "Okay?" After the hug, he walked to the table and took his seat along with his parents.

"Wow, all of this looks good! There is white miso soup, *negitorodon, *goma-ae…I can't wait! You did a good job with this meal!" the boy exclaimed.

He could hardly wait to dig into the meal. Mrs. Izumi gave him a half-smile, but Koushirou was much too distracted to fully notice. After blessing the meal, he started to eat, going for the soup first. It was best eaten hot. When done, he headed to the goma-ae and the negitorodon.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Izumi hadn't really touched their meals, as they watched their teenage garbage disposal shovel the food down like it was nothing.

Koushirou gulped down the juice in his glass. Noticing the glass was empty, Mrs. Izumi poured him some more. "Thank you." At that moment, he noticed that his parents' dishes were still close to full. "What's wrong? How come you haven't eaten much?"

"We're fine," his father insisted, as he took a drink of his beer.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," he looked over at his wife, "but there is something we wanted to discuss with you." Mrs. Izumi shook her head. She wasn't ready yet.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Um, school. How was school today?"

"It was okay," he answered dryly.

"I suppose you should be getting some final projects assigned to you by now, right?"

"Yeah, it's the same old stuff."

"What about Japanese History?"

"Um, I just have to do a research project on any famous historical figure of my choice," Koushirou answered quickly. He was surprised he was able to come up with something so quickly.

"We won't lie to you," his mother began gently. "Your teacher called me this afternoon."

Koushirou nearly choked on the spinach salad, but recovered quickly. Since when do teachers call home? "What?"

"He said that you didn't seem to want to do the assignment. Is that true?"

"Well, I'm just not into history too much…that's all. No point in living in the past, right," he laughed slightly.

"Well, we don't want you slacking off on your assignments. If you want to get into a good high school and university, you must work hard in all of your subjects."

"Y-yes sir. I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't taking it too seriously since I already have a high mark in the class." Koushirou still couldn't believe that his teacher had called home. That just wasn't the norm, just like the assignment in question. What partially surprised him though, aside from the fact he'd called in the first place, was the fact that his mother never once pointed out that what he said was the assignment was different from what was actually assigned. 'Did he even tell her what it was?'

"I guess that's understandable, but your father and I want you to do every assignment that's given to you."

He nodded, and started to eat slower, ignoring the fact that it was still pretty quiet at the table, but he was too drowned in his own thoughts to even notice. 'I really don't want to do this strange assignment, but I now know that I can't get out of _not_ doing it because he'll probably call here again. How can I actually do this type of an assignment if I don't know much about my supposedly true family?

'I don't want to seem ungrateful towards my parents, as they've always taken good care of me, but doing an assignment about those two would mean that the information would technically be false. She didn't biologically give birth to me.

'What does it truly matter anyway? They, apparently, don't want me to know that I'm adopted, and in a way, I'm not too surprised. If they did, I'm sure they would've mentioned it to me by now if it wasn't slightly bothersome.' He inwardly sighed. 'What do I do?'

He looked over at his mother, who was now eating her meal. He still couldn't help but feel that there was something off about her. 'I wonder what's going on with her. Today was the most noticeable, but she's been acting strangely for a while now. Sometimes she may seem cheery, which is normal for her, but then she may act a bit emotional, like how she was before dinner. I've also noticed how fatigued she's been, even though she seems to try to hide it.

'I really feel she's keeping something from me, and I doubt it's about my adoption.' After taking another sip of juice, he decided once and for all to get down to the root of the problem. He had promised himself to not meddle, but it was getting to be a bit too much for him now. "Mother…"

"Yes?" The woman sipped some of her hot green tea.

"What happened when you went to see the doctor? You did go today, but you never told me of your diagnosis. Is everything okay? Are you healthy?"

"You did a really great job with the soup."

"Koushirou, would you like some more?" his mother asked abruptly.

"What?"

"You know, I think I _just_ heard your mobile phone ring, Masami-san."

"Yes, I should probably go and answer that."

"I didn't hear anything. What's going on you two?"

The two gave each other a look and nodded, realizing that they had to be up front with the boy with their news.

"Well, Koushirou, yes, as you were asking earlier about a diagnosis, I did receive one. They called me this afternoon."

"Oh no!" the boy panicked. "You're not dying, are you? Is that why you've been so depleted of energy lately?"

"Calm down, Koushirou; your mother is _not_ dying." his father told him in surprise. 'Only he would go with the worst-case scenario.'

"Then what's wrong with her? Why are you two acting so anxious over a routine doctor's visit?"

"Um, Koushirou," the woman began slowly, "how would you feel if another person moved in here with us?"

"I guess that would be fine, but what does that have to do with your doctor's visit?"

"Well, that's exactly what's going to happen. A child is going to be moving in with us."

Koushirou's eyes went wide in shock. "Your doctor is a _child_?"

Mrs. Izumi laughed in spite of herself over Koushirou's naiveté. It was like the most obvious hadn't even crossed his mind. "Oh Koushirou, you are just too adorable."

The boy scratched his head. "I'm sorry…I don't understand."

"Yoshie is having a baby. That's the 'child' who will 'be moving in with us'."

"_What_?"

"You're going to be a big brother," his father told him proudly.

At that moment, Mrs. Izumi grew teary-eyed as she looked at her husband. "It's like a blessing, my having a child of my very own."

"E-excuse me?" Koushirou questioned, his right eyebrow arched.

Realizing what she'd said, she added on quickly, "This is going to be a wonderful experience, Koushirou," she replied nervously. "You're going to have yourself a younger brother or sister to bully," she joked in attempt to ease the tension. In a way, it was pretty much a natural reflex to say something like that, as she _hadn't_ had much of an opportunity to experience being the mother of her very own newborn. She and her husband did have a son before Koushirou, but he died shortly after he was born. Yoshie thought of that a lot, realizing that if the baby had survived, that he'd have been a little older than Koushirou. The last thing she wanted to do, though, was offend Koushirou.

"A sibling?"

Mr. Izumi noticed the look of complete and utter shock on the boy's face. "Are you okay, son?"

"How did this happen?" he asked distantly.

"Weren't you paying attention during our talk a few years ago when I gave you that book?"

Mr. Izumi was pretty open on the subject, unlike most parents he knew of. In his case, though, the answer to that was literally "no" since he knew about it before his father even approached him. During the talk he just nodded and pretended to read the book. It made him feel awkward.

"I'm sorry, rhetorical question," he muttered. He then set down his chopsticks on the holder, and rose from his seat. "May I please be excused?"

"But you haven't had seconds yet."

"Don't worry about that, mother. I'm not all that hungry anymore. I think I should start on my project. The sooner I start it, the sooner I finish."

With that, the boy made his way to his room, closing the door behind him, still in partial shock that his mother was going to have a baby of her own…

Author's Notes

Note 1: Yes, I made this up. Originally, I had that "he preferred avocado flavored applesauce" since that was the only strange thing I could think of from off the top of my head. I just wanted to think of a strange combination and that was the only thing I could think of. Besides, I doubt there's such a thing as avocado flavored applesauce. I also like the idea of Koushirou having a strong fondness of avocado for some odd reason.

I also decided to go with a strange food combination for him because of the episode of Digimon Adventure where all the children were talking about what they liked with their eggs or how they liked them prepared. For the dub episode, Izzy said he liked his eggs topped with jellybeans and mustard and the other characters thought he was weird…well, they seemed to come across that way to me.

For the original, he said he liked his eggs topped with ponzu, and the reactions seemed similar. Ponzu is a citrus-like sauce made with rice-wine vinegar. His combination was strange (I think Takeru went on to say it was "gross" or "nasty"), but Mimi's was stranger…somewhat. In the dub, she mentioned how she liked her eggs topped with maple syrup, not _too_ strange, eh? For the original, she went on about how she likes her eggs prepared with sugar and then topped with natto, hence the reactions. Natto is an acquired taste, and since it's implied she _loves_ the stuff, it wouldn't surprise me if she were the type who'd even eat the stuff on toast. The main thing I found interesting about the episode is how out of all of them, Koushirou and Mimi were the only ones out of the group perceived as strange for their tastes.

If you're wondering what natto is, it's a strong, poignant smelling, sticky, snotty looking, fermented soybean type mixture. It's supposed to be healthy and good with rice and a traditional breakfast side. Personally, I had a hard time tolerating it. I had it with rice and soy sauce. Now in udon, I could take it. I only tried it since I'm one of those, "Don't knock it until you try it" types. lol  
~*~*~*~*~

Note 2: Onigiri is pretty much a rice ball wrapped in nori (sort of a seaweed wrap), although there are some types of onigiri that don't use the wrap and the shape can vary. It can be round and it can be triangular. Just depends on who's making it. The filling can consist of almost anything, though. For instance, the ones I made, I used a tuna, avocado, mayo mixture for my filling and it was quite tasty.  
~*~*~*~*~

Note 3: Hayashi rice is similar to curry, only Japanese style. It consists of beef, a various amount of vegetables, and a red wine and tomato type sauce, and it's served with rice. I guess depending on the person, the rice can either be boiled or steamed.  
~*~*~*~*~

Note 4: I was going for donburi dishes for this. Donburi pretty much means a rice-bowl dish. There are many types, and the one I chose was negitorodon…mainly because it's one I wouldn't mind trying. lol Anyway, negitorodon is pretty much chopped or diced toro (which is fatty tuna, which you may be familiar with if you've had sushi) and negi (known as spring onion) on rice.

Goma-ae is pretty much a Japanese spinach salad with sesame dressing and a bit of soy sauce. Pretty good.


	3. 03  Koushirou's Thoughts

Hi again everyone. I hope that the last chapter wasn't _too _unrealistic. Of course I have no idea how a person like Koushirou would react to such a thing.

Oh yes, almost forgot to mention this. The names of the parents and siblings of the Chosen Children (Digidestined) are all original, meaning, I didn't make them up. Ironically, for the most part, the adults' given names were based on the given names of the seiyuu (voice actors) voicing the characters.

Anyway, this chapter is just about Koushirou's feelings on the entire thing and the doubt he's starting to feel over his mother's being pregnant. Some of the others show up as well, Taichi and Yamato being two of them. The two have a slight discussion in this chapter about girls, and I personally found Yamato a bit out of character for it. In my mind, I just can't picture a character like his speaking openly on the subject to the extent of mentioning which types of girls he'd reject and which types he'd take looks wise.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 03: The Thoughts of Koushirou…

'A _baby_? She's going to have a _ba_by?'

The boy, who had been in his room close to a half hour, continued to pace back and forth, his mind on all that was said over dinner. The main thing that stuck in his mind, though, was from his mother's slip up earlier..."It's like a blessing, my having a child of my very own." That statement had hurt him more than he'd let on. To him, it felt as if his "mother" was already rejecting him. He wasn't certain as to how he should feel. He didn't know whether or not to be thrilled over the soon to be new addition or not. Old thoughts and doubts started to resurface in his mind that really hadn't for years pertaining to his being adopted and of what his true place was within the Izumi family.

He paced back and forth a bit more, pondering over the idea of an infant being in the home and the set up he'd grown accustomed to over the years. He stopped circling his room, and felt the need to apologize. Even when something upset the boy, if he acted unusual or a bit rashly over the situation, he would still go out of his way to apologize for it, like a perfect, selfless gentleman. He felt it was out of place to have left dinner so abruptly. That aside, he was still a little hungry since he _had_ left without having any seconds.

"I guess I _could_ get myself a bite to eat," he laughed lightly while holding his growling stomach.

Walking down the hall, he overheard a couple of voices coming from his parents' bedroom. He was about to keep going, until he heard his father mention something about the "new addition". Curious, Koushirou peaked through the slightly ajar door to see his father sitting in a chair, while his mother was sitting on the bed comfortably. It was pretty much similar to when he'd overheard his parents talking about his adoption years earlier.

"Yoshie, I really can't wait for you to have the baby."

"I can't wait either!" Mrs. Izumi patted her not-yet showing pregnant tummy. "According to the doctor, I'm about three weeks along. We have just a little over eight months to go until the big day and I'll have a baby of my very own." Tears formed in her eyes, as she giggled like a school girl from happiness. The woman stood and went over to her husband, giving him a big hug. "Masami-san, I feel so much closer to you right now since we know for sure. We're going to have a child of our own…after all of these years. Who would've guessed that it would be possible?"

He nodded. "We just have to come up with names for him."

"_Or_ her," Mrs. Izumi added, letting him go.

"That's right, but whether you give me a son or a daughter, I'll love the child just the same."

She retook her seat on the bed. "How about I come up with the name if we have a girl, and you come up with a name if it's a boy?"

"That sounds fair."

"Oh, and as a rule, we must _both_ agree on the name chosen."

"Right."

Koushirou frowned and didn't stick around for the rest of the conversation. To him, it felt as if the two had disowned him already or had disavowed any knowledge of his existence. He sighed and sulked while heading back to his room, his hunger suddenly gone.

"How do you think things will be around here with the upcoming change?" asked Mrs. Izumi after Koushirou had left. "How do you think Koushirou will adjust to having a younger sibling? He doesn't really have much experience with younger children."

"He'll probably do fine. He did grow up around Hikari and Takeru and then there's also Mimi. Her aunt and uncle have two small children and Koushirou hangs around there every once in a while."

"You're probably right. I'm confident that Koushirou will be a great older brother, as he's our son. As far as _I'm_ concerned, he will always be my son, and I'll always love him as if he were my very own, even if I didn't physically have him." The woman stood.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go check on Koushirou since he did leave dinner so quickly. I'm going to see if he'd like any type of a snack."

With that, the woman exited the room…

Koushirou was back in his room, lying on his back staring blankly up at the ceiling in thought over what he'd overheard.

'They don't want me around. If the two of them have a child of their own, they'll have a good reason to reject me as an Izumi. I've never seen mother so happy before, father either for that matter.

'I sometimes wonder what my biological parents are like and where they live.' Something else then came to mind, which caused him to sit up. 'I wonder why I was put up for adoption in the first place and how the Izumis came to adopt me…'

His thoughts were soon broken by that of knocking. He asked who it was.

"It's me, dear." Koushirou opened the door. "I just wanted to make sure everything was alright since you didn't finish your dinner earlier."

"I'm fine mother. I was…um…just anxious to start my history assignment."

"Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Y-yes. I'm thinking of maybe going to bed early too since I am home earlier than usual."

"But it's barely 19:30 (7:30). It's so early."

"What was that old proverb…'early to bed and early to rise makes the man healthy, wealthy, and wise'."

"That's a very good philosophy to go by," she smiled. "I'll leave you to it then. I'll see you at breakfast, unless you do decide you want a snack or either some of the leftovers from dinner." The woman found that odd to say, since they usually never had leftovers due to Koushirou's massive appetite as he'd grown older. "Just let me know."

"Don't worry, I will. Good night, mother."

Mrs. Izumi walked away as Koushirou started to close the door, but heard her singing lightly about the new baby. He just sighed and threw himself back onto his bed, lying face up once again.

'What exactly should I do? They're ignoring me already, and this child hasn't even been born yet. I wonder if I should move so that I won't get in the way. Maybe I should go find my…_real_ family.

'I would hate to burden them with my being around. At least that way, they'll be able to spend even more time with their _real_ son or daughter—a _true_ Izumi…'  
~*~*~*~

Mr. and Mrs. Izumi had moved back to the living room, talking about going out for a short while to celebrate and maybe bring Koushirou along, if he felt up to it, despite the fact that he'd said he'd wanted to go to sleep early. Before they could get into it, they heard a knock on the front door. Mrs. Izumi rushed to open it and smiled cheerfully to the group that stood before her.

"Hello everyone."

"Hello, Mrs. Izumi," the five teenagers greeted.

"Taichi-kun, Yamato-kun, Sora-chan, Miyako-chan, Mimi-chan, it's wonderful to see you all again. It's been a while."

"It's nice to see you as well, Mrs. Izumi," the short-haired Sora said.

The big-haired boy of the group spoke up next, asking, "Is Koushirou around?"

"Yes, he promised to join us tonight at the new karaoke place in Palette Town," Sora explained.

"Well, it's not actually new," Mimi corrected, "it's just finished being remodeled. It looks really good now!"

"Of _course_ it was her idea to go there," Miyako pointed with a laugh. "Mimi-sama loves to karaoke, and the only other person who was fully willing to go along with her on the idea was Yamato-san."

The blonde-haired-boy crossed his arms coolly. "Do you want my great singing talent to go to waste? I have to keep my voice fresh for my fans when the band and I take a break from performing."

Taichi just rolled his eyes at his friend, and impatiently asked, "Is he coming?"

"I'm not entirely sure. He did mention wanting to work on his history assignment."

"His _history_ assignment?" Mimi asked in surprise. 'Why would he start it without me? I'm supposed to be his partner for it.'

"Mimi-chan, you're in his class, right?" She nodded. "So what historical figure did you choose to do your report on?"

"Historical figure? Are we talking about the same assignment? The one that's due a week from now?"

"Well, that's what he told us."

"Mimi-chan, what's wrong," whispered Sora.

"I'll tell you about it later," she whispered back. "Can we go see him now, Mrs. Izumi?"

"Oh yes, how rude of me. Come on in." She moved aside for the teens to enter. "I'll go back and check on him to see if he's willing to come out of his room. He didn't even finish his dinner tonight."

"Thank you," they all said.

While the kids made themselves comfortable in the living room with Mr. Izumi, Mrs. Izumi rushed to Koushirou's room and lightly knocked on the door. Already in his bed clothing, he, reluctantly, answered.

"It's me again."

"What is it, mother?"

"I know you said you wanted to get started on your history assignment and then go to bed, but your friends are here to see you."

He opened the door. "My friends?"

"Yes, they are here to fetch you."

"Fetch me? What friends?"

"Let's see. Taichi-kun, Sora-chan, Yamato-kun, Mimi-chan, and Miyako-chan are all here to get you and go with them out for group karaoke. You didn't hear them? Your room is right near the front door."

He shook his head coming to a realization. "I forgot all about that! How could I have forgotten about that!" the boy cried out while slapping his forehead in stupidity. 'How in the world did I let them talk me into going in the first place? I'm not very good at karaoke compared to Yamato-san or Mimi-san, but the food is good, and it is still fun...'

"You should go talk with them. They're waiting for you. Your father and I are going to go out for a little while, so if you do decide to join them, just make sure you lock up."

"Yes ma'am."

"Oh, would you like your allowance early just in case you do decide to join them?"

"Not to worry, mother. We have a reserved room thanks to Mimi-san, and I already gave my share about a week ago when she came up with the idea to go. Mimi-san is one of their most loyal customers and even though we did have to pay, it was a very small fee. Everything is going to be unlimited."

"Alright," she told him while giving him a quick hug. 'I'm sure spending time with his friends whether it's here or out would be more fun and interesting for him instead of spending that time around his father and me.'

She left and told her husband how she was ready to go out, even if it was just for a brisk walk. The children said goodnight to the two, and they then left. Time the front door slammed shut, Koushirou made his way towards the living room. He had changed out of his bed clothes and back into his street clothes. "Hey everyone," he greeted halfheartedly.

"Come on Koushirou! Let's go," Taichi urged.

"Yeah, the place is going to be filled with those about our age, since it's a special teen night _and_ we're going to be allowed to stay after closing," Yamato pointed out.

"Which means cute, and single, girls, and we _all_ know how much girls love to karaoke," Taichi finished up with a toothy grin while wrapping an arm around the slightly shorter Koushirou's shoulder. "It's our duty as Odaiba's best looking bachelors to show up so that all of the girls can run over to _me_ with open arms and invite me to karaoke with them for a _private_ session."

Yamato scoffed. "_You_? They always run over to me."

Taichi stepped up to Yamato, giving him an arrogant smirk. "Just a minor detail, my friend. You see, they may look as if they're running over to you, but they're _really_ just trying to get to me, the great Yagami Taichi…soccer genius extraordinaire."

The musician barked out a laugh, loving to wind Taichi up. "Yeah, right! They all run to me. I would know that better than anyone. You can have the satisfactory ones while I take the extremely beautiful ones."

The three girls rolled their eyes at the two over their stupid conversation.

"I hope you two don't get noticed by _any_ of the girls at all," Sora told the two resentfully.

Taichi turned to his childhood friend, and gave her a crafty grin that usually always softened the young girl's mood. "You're just jealous."

"Of-of what! You're nothing special!" she insisted heatedly. 'But you're nice…and I hate to admit it, but cute…'

"As leader of this group…"

"_We're not in the Digital World_," Sora muttered under her breath.

"…I _order_ you to work on your history report later! Mimi-chan is waiting and we all finished up with our clubs early to be able to actually go."

"_More like snuck off_," Sora, once again, muttered under her breath.

"History report?" He thought for a moment and finally realized what Taichi was referring to. "Oh yes, my report! Wow, I guess all of that writing and researching really takes it out of a guy." He put his hand behind his head and gave off a tense laugh.

Mimi shot the boy a disapproving look, her arms crossed. She stared him right in the eyes, which caused Koushirou to feel strange. "I bet it can, if you actually _write_ one," she grumbled.

"Um, w-well, maybe I'll join you guys after all," he told them quickly. "I did promise, and I did already put my share in to rent the room at such a discount price thanks to Mimi-san."

"Great! Let's get going, Izumi-senpai!"

"Oh yeah, Koushirou-kun, I've been meaning to ask this since we got here, but why was your mother so happy?" asked Sora. When the woman had let them in, she wore a smile the entire time. She was almost giddy about it. "I've seen her in a cheery mood before, but this time seemed almost different."

Yamato rubbed his chin. "You know, she did seem more cheerful than usual, and your father seemed extra happy too."

"It's nothing to worry yourselves over. Like Taichi-san said, we really _should_ get going."

Koushirou walked towards the front door to step into his shoes, while his friends followed suit. Mimi noticed that he was once again avoiding another subject involving his family. This just made the girl even more concerned as well as curious. 'What is his deal?' the girl wondered in thought as she followed behind her friend…

As soon as the last one was out, that being Mimi, Koushirou locked up, and the group headed out to have a fun night of karaoke in Palette Town…


	4. 04  A Dull Night of Karaoke

Hi again everyone. If you're still reading, pat yourselves on the back. This chapter will bring in another character, which we all know and love, maybe, and introduce two original characters. There's no need to worry about them, as neither will play much of a role in this story. I just wanted more people for the group to karaoke with. I will apologize in advance, though. I felt that this part was a bit on the dull side since it pretty much consists of background information on the characters and a lot of discussion. I call it a filler chapter just to have an excuse to have Taichi and the others in it since this story focuses around Koushirou and Mimi so much. This chapter is also needed because of how the next chapter starts. All of the discussion maybe a bit irrelevant, but Koushirou's actions are kind of important, if that makes sense.

Oh, yeah, should probably mention this too. I did hint at a pairing for this chapter, so have fun with that. Not sure why I hinted, just felt like the natural thing to do.

I know this chapter may seem long, but it's shorter than it looks. I have a _huge_ author's note at the end of this which is why it may seem lengthy. Oh yes, adding on, the original title of this chapter was "A Depressing Night of Karaoke", but as you can see, I changed that.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 04: A Dull Night of Karaoke…

Palette Town was one of the busiest places in Odaiba as far as entertainment went. It was probably best known for the Daikanransha, its giant ferris wheel, which allows its riders to get a grand view of the entire city of in-land Tokyo, which included Tokyo Tower in Shiba Park and even farther than that, like the skyscrapers of the skyscraper district of Shinjuku. The ride was at _least_ fifteen minutes long, and the best time to ride was definitely towards the end of the day when the sun was setting. One of the main reasons that both Mimi and Miyako enjoyed Palette Town was for Zepp Tokyo, which was one of many music halls located in Japan, where many music groups and artists performed. Miyako was really into pop music, as was Mimi.

The ride on the train to Palette Town didn't take too long. As they entered the area, Mimi leading the way to the karaoke place she'd had in mind, they saw a certain tall, blue-haired boy wearing glasses in the front of it. Along with him were two other people. "Hey guys," he waved to his friends, "I thought you weren't going to show up," he laughed. It was none other than the slightly clumsy math and science whiz, Kido Jou. He had agreed to hang out with them for the karaoke session and had promised to just meet them there, as he had someplace else to go prior.

Jou introduced the group to his two friends from school he'd brought along, who of which he asked Mimi first if it was okay to. She informed him that the owner didn't mind, and that everything will still be unlimited and free for her group and the other select few being allowed to stay the night. Jou was still considered nerdy in some senses, but he was a bit more outgoing and social compared to when he was younger. As a matter of fact, Jou was never all that shy, just had a lot of doubt when it came to his abilities. One thing that had changed, only slightly, over the years, was his tendency to study the majority of the time, which meant sitting in the house more.

Koushirou, compared to Jou, was an entirely different story. It seemed that the older he got the more antisocial he became. He would still hang out with his friends, but he still came across as quiet, private, and _extremely_ mysterious whenever it came to himself at times and seemed the most social when heading the Computer Club. Even though Taichi and Sora knew Koushirou best, there were still things about him that they just didn't know, as he never volunteered much about himself unless directly asked something.

Beside Jou was a girl with long, auburn hair. "This is my friend Malissa Smith. She moved here from America last summer, and was transferred into my school in September for the fall semester."

"I'm very pleased to meet you all," the girl responded shyly.

The 16-year-old girl was wearing a thin jacket, a white, short-sleeved blouse, a dark-blue navy skirt, white ankle socks, and black dress shoes. Her outfit looked as if it could've passed for a typical high school uniform, minus her casual jacket, but this was just the way she liked dressing. She had her hair hanging straight down, but it wasn't plain and straight. It had a bit of body to it. The girl also was wearing perfume, which Mimi, Miyako, and Sora noticed. The perfume definitely had a sea theme to it, as the girl loved things associated with water.

Jou had met Malissa during their summer break. She had moved there with her family back in mid-June of the previous year, and was enrolled in the same private academy that Jou attended. How she managed to get into a prestigious school as a foreigner was beyond everyone. The entrance exam for the school was _very_ difficult and challenging, but she had to take a transfer exam as well. She is in a different class from Jou, but he sees her during their lunch hour. He saw her studying at the Tokyo Metropolitan Library one day, and saw the book she was attempting to study, and recognized it right off as he'd used it himself. He offered to help her study so that she could pass the entrance exams. After that, the two became instant friends.

Malissa, as a friendly gesture, was also tutoring Jou in English, just as he would sometimes inform her of certain things in Japanese. The girl was very advanced, as she'd studied Japanese for years, but there were still some things she just didn't know or understand right off, such as proverbial sayings and different slang terms used by the youth of the country.

"The guy beside Malissa-san," he pointed to the handsome boy next to her, whose looks could have rivaled Yamato's, "is Tezuka Eijiro."

"Hello, Tezuka-san," the others greeted.

"Meh, call me Eijiro."

Jou's blunt 17-year-old buddy was wearing a pair of plain, light blue jeans, a pair of plain white sneakers, and a dark blood-red T-shirt. His dark hair was pretty long, and he had it tied back into a ponytail. He was tall and slim, but not _too_ slim. He was the perfect size, to some. All of the girls at the academy thought he was incredibly handsome, so getting a date for any type of social or event was never a problem for him.

Aside from Yamato, Eijiro was probably one of the most popular guys Jou had ever actually associated with. Despite all of that, though, he was pretty smart, and scored one of the highest entrance exam scores in the history of their school and the teachers seemed to ignore anything Eijiro did that wasn't fully acceptable, such as his hair. High school entrance exams have always been a huge challenge, and for private schools and private academies, it was even more challenging. His score was almost perfect. Even Jou didn't get a score close to Eijiro's, and Jou had studied like mad to get into the school. During that time, Jou was like a literal hermit with occasional panic attacks, as he was determined to get into the school.

Jou met Eijiro through his homeroom. The two just happened to end up in the same class and just started up a conversation. Both were very interested in science. With the rebellious way Eijiro came across and the way he carried himself, one would've never guessed that the boy was a bit of a genius. Most adults, who saw him, always assumed he was a delinquent.

"Let me introduce you two to everyone else. The boy with the big hair is Yagami Taichi. He's a third year at Odaiba Junior High. He's the star player of the school's soccer club and one of the best players of the co-ed tennis club. How he can manage both clubs is beyond me, though."

"I'm a genius," he grinned. "Practice pays off."

Sora shook her head at the boy. He rarely ever showed up for tennis practice whenever both clubs met on the same day and his game was average at best, although, she did have to admit that whenever partnered with him, they worked very well together and seemed to always be in-sync.

"The boy beside him is-"

"Don't tell me," Eijiro interrupted exasperatingly, "that's Ishida of the Teenage Wolves. My sisters have posters and stickers and whatever else that's out for the group all over their rooms. They also drive me crazy with the music, not that the group is bad or anything, I just don't feel like hearing it all of the time…no offense."

"None taken." Yamato didn't care if the boy liked his band's music or not. He just liked the fact he was able to creatively express himself. "A younger friend of mine has an older sister who drives him mad with our music too, since she's such a fan of the group."

"Yeah, continuing on, the lavender-haired girl wearing the glasses is Inoue Miyako. Miyako-kun is a first year at Odaiba Junior High, and she's second in command of their computer club. She's probably also one of the smartest students of her year."

"Arigabingo, senpai!" Miyako smiled proudly while giving him the "v" for victory sign.

"The girl with the long, wavy, light brown hair is Tachikawa Mimi. She's a second year at Odaiba Junior High, and knowing her, she's probably the star everything," he said with a laugh. "She's in her school's volleyball club, and is a very skilled singer, that's for sure, and as I told you, this karaoke trip was definitely her idea."

"Thanks, Jou-senpai."

"Hmm," Eijiro gave the girl a sly smile, which all the girls of his school loved, "Tachikawa-san, how about you and I go out sometime? Jou's been holding out on me here, keeping all the cute girls to himself," he finished, looking from Mimi to Miyako to Sora, but his main focus was on the karaoke princess.

"Erm," the girl started with a sweat drop, "I'm flattered that you would ask me, but I don't think I'm ready for that type of thing right now. Oh…you can call me Mimi if you'd like."

"Ahh, Mimi-chan has such a nice ring to it." He stood in front of her, and gave her one of his signature smiles. "Are you sure? I _am_ one of the coolest guys at my school, and a pretty, charming girl, such as yourself, would look great being with someone like me, and-"

"Calm down, Eijiro," sighed Jou. "Don't you have a girlfriend already?"

"Not right now, but Mimi-chan would make a nice one."

'I wouldn't let that happen. Mimi-kun doesn't deserve that kind of torture.' Jou shook his head, slightly embarrassed of his friend. "Eijiro….come on…"

"What? Can't blame a guy for trying." He then whispered to Jou, "With that hot body of hers, she's _definitely_ ready for high school."

Jou then did something that was almost atypical for a person like him. He punched Eijiro in the top of the head while rolling his eyes. Everyone else was too stunned to say anything. None of them had ever seen Jou resort to violence, not even jokingly, unless shaking Gomamon while hysterical counted. "Cool it!" he hissed.

Mimi didn't know how to react to the boy's advances. Compared to the boys of her school, Eijiro seemed a bit more charismatic…or had the potential to be.

"_Continuing_ on," he pointed to a girl slightly shorter than Mimi, "the girl beside Mimi-kun is Takenouchi Sora. She's in her third year at Odaiba Junior High. She is one of the best female players of the co-ed tennis club. She's also an ex-soccer player and played great during her Odaiba Elementary days when in the soccer club along with Taichi."

"P-pleased to meet you, Eijiro-san."

"Jou was right about our being great in soccer as kids." Taichi put an arm around Sora. "We were the best and worked well together as a team, right Sora?"

She nodded, her cheeks turning a faint shade of red. "We-we sure were and still are with tennis."

"And last, but not least, is Izumi Koushirou. He's a second year at Odaiba Junior High. He's also head of the school's computer club."

"H-hello. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he answered routinely.

"Damn he's formal," muttered Eijiro. "So, Mimi-chan, is the redhead your boyfriend?"

'Boyfriend? Mimi-sama and Izumi-senpai?'

"Whoa," Taichi partially laughed.

"Eh? K-Koushirou-kun, my _boyfriend_?"

"Well, he's in your year, isn't he?"

"W-well, yes, he is, but he's just a friend."

"Yeah, just a friend," Koushirou echoed dully. After saying that, he got a strange, unsettling feeling. Saying that they were just friends seemed to really bother him, but he just didn't understand why something like that would.

"I just figured that a nice girl like you _had_ to have had a boyfriend to reject me so openly," he flirted.

"No, we're nothing m-more than friends," Mimi made clear.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, how about that date…"

"I should've left you at home," Jou muttered. Malissa just laughed uneasily. The others felt the same as Jou, especially Koushirou who was actually growing annoyed, minus Mimi who was a little fond of the attention the older boy was giving her. It didn't last too long, though, as Mimi was anxious to get started.

The group entered the place, walking up to the front desk. "Hello there," Mimi greeted. "We have a reservation for the grand reopening."

"Oh, Mimi-chan!" the older woman behind the counter exclaimed. "So you managed to come after all!"

"Yes, sure did, Sakamoto-san. I wouldn't have missed this for the world."

"We have the perfect room for you and your group." The chubby woman escorted Mimi and the others to her reserved room and let them in. The room was definitely one of the best in the place, and also one of the biggest. When entering the room, their were slippers situated for all of them to use. The woman told Mimi that she and her friends could order anything they wanted food wise free of charge. Overall, it was a really good deal. Everyone thanked the woman, who left, while making themselves comfortable on the wrap around couches surrounding the table and stage area.

After looking over the menu, Mimi called up their orders on the phone in the large room. Their drinks were brought in almost instantly. As for foods, they had decided on different dishes. For instance, Yamato had a taste for *takoyaki. Miyako mainly wanted all of the cake and custard she could eat. Sora, Jou, Mimi, and Malissa, wanted one of those large platters that had a little bit of everything that could feed 3-5 people. Taichi, Koushirou, and Eijiro wanted pizza, and ordered two of them. All three boys had big appetites. Regardless of what was ordered, though, all of it was going to get shared in some way.

"Hey," Taichi cried, "I didn't see any pretty young girls on the way here!"

"They're probably in one of the other rooms with _handsome_ young guys," Sora teased.

"Not funny!" Taichi pouted with streaked tears.

She and Miyako laughed at Taichi, giving one another a high five.

"Jou-san, you have a lot of friends," Malissa noted in English. "It's surprising that you all are still friends considering how you all go to different schools and are in different years. Back home, most friendships are lost because of that. You all must have a very special bond in some way."

"Yeah, we are all pretty close and these guys are pretty much my best friends outside of school. Years ago, all of us, minus Miyako-kun, were grouped together at the campgrounds of Mikami Keikoku for our summer vacation. That's how we all became such good friends. It was one unforgettable summer. It's funny how I was in charge of them since I was the oldest."

"Wow, Jou-san was in charge? You probably did a very good job."

"I wouldn't say that…"

"So tell me, how long have you all been friends?"

Due to the fact that all Malissa had said was in English, a habit she had at times when speaking with Jou, and when she was nervous, which was usually due to the fact of now being around new people, Jou was about to pretty much explain all that Malissa had said, but Mimi beat him to it.

"We have been friends for a long time," the girl responded in English.

"Wait, what did she say? I know she said something about friends," Taichi said.

"She asked how long we've all been friends and was surprised over how Jou-senpai has kept his friendship with us."

"I do apologize," the girl bashfully told the bunch, going back to Japanese. "I guess I'm a little nervous and I sometimes become tongue-tied when trying to speak it. I understand it well enough, as Jou-san mentioned, but I'm still not as comfortable with speaking sometimes in front of new people."

"It's fine," Yamato complimented. "I understood it fine, as I'm sure everyone else did." They all nodded in agreement, even the mute Koushirou.

"W-wow. Thank you very much."

"Malissa, you're always like that. You just need to calm down and relax," Eijiro told the girl as a couple of servers came in, setting up all that had been ordered. "Now, how did you all meet?" Eijiro asked while going towards the pizza. The others were also going towards their respective orders.

"I know all of them through Izumi-senpai," explained Miyako, who was sipping on fruit juice.

"Like Jou said earlier, *we were all grouped together for our summer break almost five years ago," Taichi continued on. He started to eat the sweets that had been laid out for them.

Yamato ate some of his takoyaki. He really did enjoy the quick-fix treat. "Some of us knew each other before that time, though, except with my younger brother. They didn't know him, and he didn't know them."

"Just as Yamato-kun said, some of us were friends before our summer camp trip. Taichi and I were friends way before then."

"Yeah, Sora and I have known each other for a long time, way before Odaiba Elementary School. Back then, we both lived in the Nerima ward in Hikarigaoka (Heighton View Terrace). We went to *Daisan Elementary School. We both in class 1-2 and we lived in the same building. Our folks then moved to Odaiba and we just happened to end up together again and remained good friends."

"We were also pretty good, I guess you could say, acquaintances with Koushirou-kun since he was in the Soccer Club with both Taichi and me when at Odaiba Elementary. *He played goalie. He didn't really talk much back then," Sora smiled at him, "but the more time he spent with us, the more slightly open he became, and he really proved that he was capable of talking our summer together. He had lots to say."

"We just knew of the others because we went to school together," Taichi added, his mouth full of pizza. "You know how it is. We would see them around school or for school assemblies, stuff like that, but didn't really know any of them by name or personally."

Miyako, who was on her third slice of cake, spoke up next. "I only knew of Izumi-senpai because he ran the computer club at Odaiba Elementary. We became instant friends, and met the rest here through him and the younger sister of Taichi-san and the younger brother of Yamato-san."

"Hm," Mimi began, "I knew of Taichi-san, Jou-senpai, Sora-san, and Yamato-san, but I'd never spoken with either of them. I just knew that Sora-san and Taichi-san were star athletes of our school, especially Sora-san, *since she was the first girl to join the soccer club. It was an all-boy club.

"The girls of my class were usually always talking about the older, 'handsome Ishida-senpai', but that was all I knew about him. I still had never actually _met_ him. I didn't know of Jou-senpai at all until that summer. He was so tense and scared. I'll admit that I had doubts about him when I found out that he was going to be our cabin leader. I do remember him walking around school, though, with his nose always buried in a book.

"I met Miyako-chan through the younger siblings of Taichi-san and Yamato-san: Hikari-chan and Takeru-kun. *As for Koushirou, I've always had classes with him, but I'd never spoken to him before our summer trip. I only knew of him. When we were all grouped together, he was the only one I semi-knew." She looked across the table, the redhead eating some cake quietly. "Koushirou, did you ever go to the *Wakaba Kindergarten when it was being run by Suteki-obaachan? I don't remember seeing you."

Sora laughed. "Grandmother Suteki? Very casual."

"Yeah, I guess she was casual. We _all_ called her obaachan and I know some called her Suteki-baachan. She liked for us to. She was a very kind old lady. So, Koushirou, did you go there?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mimi-san. What did you say again?"

Mimi mentally rolled her eyes. When it came to food, and computers, seems he could tune the whole world out. "I asked if you'd ever attended the Wakaba Kindergarten when Suteki-obaachan was in charge. I remember some more teachers too, a younger one and she was her real granddaughter. I can't remember her name though. Obaachan was a bit plump, had graying hair, a little short, now that I think about it…"

Koushirou nodded, as it all came back to him. That part of his life was content…a part of his life where he was genuinely happy with himself. He smiled. "Yes, I used to go there before my family moved to Odaiba, and I remember Suteki-baachan! She used to always give us nice treats and thought of new games for us to play when we were good. I used to like how she read us stories before nap time."

"Oh my gosh!" Mimi clapped. "I remember her doing that! She used to act like the characters in the stories! I could never actually go straight to sleep for nap time because I'd want to hear more of her stories!"

"Thinking about it now, I wonder if I did meet you back then. There was a girl who would always play with dolls during our recess time. During art, she seemed to use pink for everything she painted and seemed to always _wear_ shoes that were pink or either kept pink bows in her hair. That girl would seem to befriend everyone and would try to play with everyone. She even had your hair color."

"I wonder if it was me. I did like pink a lot when I was younger."

"So Mimi-san and Koushirou-san lived in Hikarigaoka too?" asked Malissa, trying some takoyaki from the platter.

"We all did at some point," Jou explained.

"Yeah, we all even lived in the same building, yet we didn't know each other," Yamato said. "Of course the exception is Taichi and Sora, and we now know that Koushirou may have indirectly known Mimi prior to Odaiba Elementary."

"To make things even _more_ ironic, when they _did_ move from there, they all ended up in Odaiba!" Miyako told the two. "They all moved after all that weird stuff that happened there back in 1995. A lot of people moved after that incident."

"Koushirou and I would've still been in Kindergarten when our families moved."

"I was a year 2 student at Daigo Elementary School when my parents, brothers, and I made the move. The move wasn't too hard on me, but it was a bit tougher on my brothers since they were in higher years. Shuu-niisan had just started his first year at Hikarigaoka Junior High and Shin-niisan had just started his first year at *Hikarigaoka High School."

"Wow, Jou-san, you all have such history together!" Malissa exclaimed in English.

Eijiro was equally impressed. "It's amazing that you all are still friends after all these years."

"Actually, we all became _really_ close after our adventures in the-" Taichi stopped, as he noticed the looks he was receiving from the others, minus Koushirou, who seemed to be drowned in his own thoughts, which meant to not blab about the Digital World, as not everyone knew about it. "-in the…camp that year. We learned how to get along with each other and all that other good stuff." The boy stood. "Forget all this talking! We should be singing! I know we can stay as long as we want, but come on guys! It's time to start karaokeing. Wait, is that even a word?"

Jou laughed. "Not that _I _know of!"

"Save the _best_ singers for last!"

Yamato gave the younger girl a smug smile. "Don't hate me because I have such a wonderful, deep, sexy voice."

"Who says I was talking about you?" Miyako playfully taunted.

Everyone pretty much laughed, minus Koushirou who gave off a small, forced chuckle. It was like he was only half listening. Mimi, at that time, glanced over at the redhead to notice the distant look on his face. She decided to just ignore it. She was there to have fun and to make sure everyone else did, not worry about Koushirou.

"Yo, Jou, why don't we sing a song together?" Eijiro asked his friend.

"Senpai, you like to sing?" asked Miyako in surprise, who had started eating on a parfait treat.

"Well, um, y-y-eah. I really like karaoke and singing."

"Yeah, Jou, Malissa, and I karaoke a lot over at my place and sometimes we go to karaoke boxes when we have some free time."

"It took a lot of getting used to, as karaoke isn't very common where I'm from."

"Taichi," Sora whispered to the boy beside her, "isn't Jou-senpai a bad singer just like you are?"

"Well yeah, but…HEY!"

Sora giggled.

"Hey, Malissa, I know, how about you and Jou sing together," Eijiro pointed to the two. "You guys sound really nice together when we come for karaoke, unless you want to sing by yourself first."

The girl was a bit shy to sing in front of all of Jou's friends, but they urged her to. "Okay, I'll do it!" Malissa got up on the stage, the lights shining down on her, and looked through the book for songs in the list. It had a nice variety of music. Some songs were from across the sea, some were older, and some were new releases. She decided to try her luck with a Japanese song. She was glad when coming across something she knew. She noted the number, punched it into the karaoke machine and the lyric screen lit up.

"Oh, I remember this song!" Miyako bopped her head to the music. "It's *_always_ by Mai-K (Kuraki Mai)!"

"Wow, that song is from a couple of years ago," Mimi noted thoughtfully.

"There seems to be a good variety," Sora stated simply, while looking through the book of songs available.

Malissa sang the song gracefully, and didn't mess up a single note or lyric as she watched the words flash on the screen. After she was done, everyone cheered. She blushed and bowed.

"That was great, Malissa!" Taichi complimented. "You look like you were having a lot of fun." Taichi raised his glass of soda. "A toast to Malissa! Kanpai!"

"Kanpai!" everyone saluted.

"She has a really good voice," Yamato said.

"Was there any doubt?" Eijiro gobbled down another slice of pizza. "The girl has a great voice."

"E-Ejiro-san…" The girl's face went an even deeper shade of crimson.

"Koushirou, didn't you think she sang well?" Mimi asked the redhead.

The boy came back to slight reality and nodded, as if he were supposed to. He did do the toast Taichi had initiated, but he was still only half listening.

"I don't think I could top that," Sora commented.

"Get up there and sing!" Taichi ordered playfully. "You know you like singing."

"Oh shut up," she joked back. She stepped on the stage. "Hmm, what song should I sing…"

"Hey, you should sing that old song you're always listening to," Taichi suggested. "That song *_Shiny Days_."

"Oh, that's a good idea! What made you think of that?"

"I'm not sure," he shrugged. "It just suits you, I guess. Anything that's slow by Mizutani Yuuko seems to remind me of you."

Sora nodded, her face slightly pink as she looked for the song. Luckily, she found it. She didn't need the lyrics screen, and sang it perfectly. Taichi could only stare at Sora admiringly throughout her entire performance. She looked like a true idol to him, especially with the way the stage light shined down on her. After it ended, everyone rooted for the girl.

"Just like with Malissa-san, you didn't mess up one single note," Yamato commented like an expert.

"Thanks. So, Taichi, how was that?"

"Well, um…it could've been better," he grinned. Sora hit him playfully and retook her seat.

*Everyone else sang songs as well, whether it was as a group or as a solo performance. Yamato sang the song _Walk on the Edge_, which was well known because of his band; Miyako sang the song _Crash de Bingo_ which was by Natsuki Rio; Mimi sang an older song by the name of _Himawari_, which was by AiM; Taichi sang to a song by the name of _Atarashii Taiyou_. Mimi, Sora, Miyako, and Malissa sang to a song by Morning Musume called _Tomodachi ga ki ni Itte Iru Otoko kara no Dengon_. The boys, with a reluctant Koushirou who partially refused, and just watched, all sang _Pikanchi Double_ by the boy-band Arashi.

The girls laughed at how silly the boys looked trying to do the dance steps like the boys in Arashi would do. Jou seemed the most enthusiastic about it, though. Even Koushirou cracked a small smile at the sight of his older friend dancing around. *They had no idea that Jou was so into singing and performing in such a way.

"What should we sing next?" Sora was pumped up. "Has everyone sung yet?"

"Hey, Mimi and I never got the chance to sing our duet together."

"That's right, Yamato-san and I were supposed to sing," Mimi said. "We didn't think of a song, though. Oh, I know! How about Taichi-san and Jou-senpai sing too! We could all sing the song _I wish…_"

Taichi and Jou thought back to when they'd tried singing that song before years ago, and how terrible they sounded.

"We could use some girls to help with harmonizing that," Yamato earnestly pointed out.

"Okay, how about this then! Let's have Jou-senpai, Taichi-san, and Malissa-san with us too!"

Malissa thought for a moment, when it came to her. "Oh yes, I know that song. I like it."

"That's good for a solo."

"Yamato's right," Eijiro said while pouring Mimi some more to drink.

"Thank you, Eijiro-san. Anyway, how about we sing *_Keep On_? I know that's in the list."

"That'd be perfect!" Sora cheered.

"Yeah, I really want to do another group song with Sora-san, Miyako-chan, and Malissa-san! We girls rule!"

"Wait, Izumi-senpai hasn't been up on stage yet."

"Come on, sing a song," Eijiro urged. "You have to have something in mind."

"Um, well…no, not really," he admitted bashfully. He did want to join in, but he just wasn't up to singing at all. There was nothing that could get his mind off of his current, what he considered, predicament.

Miyako pouted, her arms crossed. "Come on, Izumi-senpai! Sing a song. Why don't you sing something about computers! Or better yet, how about singing that song *_Version Up_? I know you like that song. Whenever you make a play list, you always include it! The song *_Open Mind_ too! I'm pretty sure I saw those songs in the book!"

"I'd rather not…"

Mimi looked Koushirou in the eyes. "Please?"

He turned his head away quickly to avert her gaze. "Erm….um…th-that's okay."

"You're no fun today!"

"I'm really sorry about that." He stood. "I think I'll head on home now. I did want to get up early. Mimi-san, I thank you for inviting me along. I apologize for any problems I may have caused you and the others."

"Th-that's okay…" Mimi managed to get out.

After a few "goodbyes" the boy took off.

"Izumi-senpai sure was acting strange. He didn't talk much, but he sure did eat the majority of the food."

"Miyako-chan is right, he was acting stranger than usual," Yamato nodded slowly in agreement.

"Is your friend always like that?"

"Well, Eijiro-san, he isn't usually," explained Mimi. "I mean, yes, he's a little quiet, but he's not all that shy. He's done karaoke before and he's always seemed to enjoy himself with us and has sung along with all of us."

"He's the _only_ person I know who has no interests outside of that computer of his. He doesn't even notice girls!"

"Taichi! Not _all_ people are as loud and as obvious as you are. Besides, if he _did_ have an interest in a certain girl, he probably wouldn't be so obvious about it. This is _Koushirou_-kun we're talking about here. He's very discreet about his feelings, seemingly."

"As usual, Sora, you make a good point," admitted the defeated soccer star.

Mimi frowned slightly. 'Koushirou, what's wrong with you? Why won't you open up to us even though you've known us for so long?'

Author's Notes

Note 01: Takoyaki is small dumpling filled with octopus, onion, and some other things, to my knowledge, and can either be fried or baked. You then top it off with a sauce and katsuobushi, which are those little fishy flake things that move when heat is added to it. One thing I do know, though, is that one has to be skilled to prepare takoyaki in one of those takoyaki pans. It can burn pretty easily.

* * *

Note 02: As a reminder, this story is taking place in March 2004, so it would be almost five years since the children had their first adventure together in the Digital World. The children's first adventure was August 1, 1999.

* * *

Note 03: For the record, there are no such places as Hikarigaoka Elementary School (to my knowledge), Odaiba Elementary School, and Odaiba Junior High School. Seems that most fictional series may use real places or have the characters going to real places, but not when it comes to schools, and yes, Sora and Taichi did have the same class when living in Hikarigaoka (Class 1-2), and yes, the two did attend Daisan Elementary School. Yamato mentioned that he went to Daiyon Elementary School. The only character whose school wasn't mentioned was Koushirou's because he didn't live in Hikarigaoka long compared to the other characters, and when asked why, he couldn't give a straight answer, but for the sake of this fic, we're going to change that. lol Makes me wonder where his family lived before the apartment in Hikarigaoka.

* * *

Note 04: Yes people, Koushirou was in the soccer club with both Taichi and Sora. Those two were acquaintances with him prior to their Digital World adventure. I know it's surprising that he played soccer, given how his character was portrayed (even though, in the episode where the kids first returned home in Adventure, he did have a bat, ball, and mitt in his closet and he owned a bike, which means that he does, at least, play like a normal child would). Anyway, his reason for being in the soccer club probably had a lot to do with the fact that it was required that he get into a club activity, and went with soccer, I suppose.

* * *

Note 05: I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but "preschools" in Japan are pretty much referred to as Kindergartens. Elementary school starts at 1st grade. Also, in episode 32 of Digimon Adventure, Mimi mentioned going to Wakaba Kindergarten/Preschool before her family moved to Odaiba. Koushirou mentioned that he was in Kindergarten too in episode 29, after Mimi mentioned it, but didn't say which one he went to, so yeah, for the sake of this fic, I'm tossing him in there too. lol I hate the fact that it wasn't mentioned when he gave his school annual (or whatever you'd call it) to Jou to call all the students.

* * *

Note 06: Something else that's true. Sora was definitely your typical tomboy. The soccer-club was all-boy, but Sora was the only girl in it. I just pretty much added more to it, like her being the first girl to play in it.

* * *

Note 07: This is also true. Mimi knew of Koushirou and Koushirou knew of Mimi before their adventure, as they were in the same class. In the novel, it mentioned how they had never talked. Also, in the novel, when Mimi's friends first noticed Koushirou, they were laughing at him because he was bringing along his laptop to the campgrounds, but Mimi didn't laugh at all and didn't really get what was so funny. That says a lot about her character. Adding on, when she first saw a nervous Jou, she did have doubts about whether or not he could actually be a good leader (for the novel). Yamato and Taichi also didn't seem to like Jou much at first for the novel.

* * *

Note 08: Hikarigaoka Senior High School is a real school in the Nerima area, everyone, so nope, this one _isn't_ made up.

* * *

Note 09: The songs originally mentioned for this chapter were out at the time this story was originally written. For instance, _always_ by Kuraki Mai came out in 2001. As it was mentioned earlier, this fic was written between August 2001 and July 2002 and this fic takes place in early March 2004. This is a lovely 2001 chapter. lol That's why I added in how there was a large variety of music so I wouldn't have to change up the music stuff _too_ much. Besides, at the time, I was a semi-big fan of Kuraki Mai, and the first song I'd ever heard by her was _always_.

* * *

Note 10: Okay, time to give information on the songs used for this chapter.

Shiny Days: This is Sora's Digimon Adventure 02 image theme, which is very ballad-ish. Kind of a mild tempo and is a really good listen. It is performed by Mizutani Yuuko, who is Sora's seiyuu (voice actor), as well as Mrs. Yagami. Mizutani Yuuko also has a radio show, and it was referenced for the series in the form of one of the character dramas to come out. Sora was doing a radio show for it.

Walk on the Edge: This is Yamato's Digimon Adventure image theme, and is harmonica heavy, you could say. It is performed by Kazaama Yuuto, who is Yamato's seiyuu. He also performed this song in the show with his band in 02.

Crash de Bingo: This is Miyako's image theme, which is pretty catchy, in my opinion. It is performed by Natsuki Rio, who is Miyako's seiyuu.

Himawari: This song is the b-side track to the My Tomorrow single. _My Tomorrow_ is the first Digimon Tamers ending. It is performed by AiM, who is Mimi's seiyuu, only when singing as Mimi (or any other character she may voice) she is always credited as Maeda Ai.

Atarashii Taiyou: This is Taichi's Digimon Adventure 02 image theme. It's a very optimistic, positive song. This song is performed by veteran seiyuu, Fujita Toshiko, Taichi's seiyuu.

Tomodachi ga ki ni Itte Iru Otoko kara no Dengon: This song replaced _Koi wo Shichaimashita_ which is by the group Tanpopo, which came out in early 2001. At the time that this fic takes place the band would've still been in its indefinite hiatus (2003). The group didn't make a come back until 2009. Tanpopo is sort of a branch of the group, Morning Musume. It seemed to have former MM members in it.

Pinkanchi Double: This song replaced _Yuuwaku_, which was by the J-rock group Glay. The Pikanchi Double single came out February of 2004, so this should work okay time wise. As for _Yuuwaku_, that came out sometime in early 2001.

I wish…: This is the first Digimon Adventure ending theme song. For the actual sequence, it shows all of the kids (minus Hikari and Tailmon) and their Digimon up to their adult (champion) levels. At that particular time, she was still going under the name, "Maeda Ai". This is also the original song Mimi had to sing to awaken Tonosama Gekomon (Shogun Gekomon) in the episode, Princess Karaoke. I had Taichi and Jou thinking back to this since they did try singing it in the episode, and boy did they sound horrible. For Taichi, sounded like someone choking a cat. Jou sounded like he was in pain. With all the microphone feedback for Gomamon and Agumon…well, never mind. They sounded terrible too. lol

Keep On: This song is performed by Maeda Ai (she was still going by this when releasing that single). This is the second Digimon Adventure ending, and it includes both Hikari and Tailmon (Angewomon) in the sequence.

Version Up: This is Koushirou's Digimon Adventure image theme. The song seems to reflect on Koushirou wanting to open up more. In other words, he wanted to "upgrade" himself. Koushirou's seiyuu is Tenjin Umi. Ironically, this song is what _really_ made me like his character. The lyrics drew me to his character, I guess, because of his wanting to better himself.

Open Mind: This is Koushirou's Digimon Adventure 02 image theme, also performed by Tenjin Umi. I like this song too. This song, to me anyway, is like a sequel to _Version Up_. The lyrics seem to pick up where _Version Up_ left off. He's more open now, although, not completely, but he has people around him to help him become stronger, and went on about how he'll be able to open his heart up fully someday due to his facing the things he wants to know, etc. Yeah, I'm _really_ showing my favoritism here, right? lol

* * *

Note 11: The Digimon Adventure dramas _Jou ga Kashu Debut! (Part 1) _and_ Jou ga Kashu Debut! (Part 2)_, which is found on the Digimon Adventure Character Song & Mini Drama 1 CD, showed that Jou had a bit of an interest in music and singing in general. After a battle, everyone, minus Taichi and Sora, who were both absent for this drama, seemingly as I don't recall hearing them, complimented Jou on a job well done in the battle.

A woman then showed up and asked Jou if he wanted to become an "idol" and to sing, as that's what the fans would like. Jou was very excited over the idea of it and he and Gomamon tried to think of a theme he could sing. The next track on the CD is the song he chose to sing, _Chigau Boku ga Iru_, which is his Digimon Adventure image theme performed by his seiyuu, the famous Kikuchi Masami.

After the song, it goes to the next track, _Jou ga Kashu Debut! (Part 2)_. Jou was confident and ready to become a popular "idol". The woman disappointed, Jou, though, by informing him that it turned out that the request wasn't for him. Instead, the request from the fans was for something involving Koushirou and Mimi, "and maybe Hikari". Jou was very disappointed over that. At the end, Koushirou, Mimi, and Hikari say something along the lines of listen to the next CD or something like that.

Ironically, the fans wanted a drama dealing with those three, and that's exactly what the fans got. The next drama CD to come out was the Digimon Adventure Character Song & Mini Drama 2. You could say it involved a love triangle. It dealt with Koushirou writing a love-letter, but was caught by Taichi and then the others showed up and they were all trying to figure out who the letter was for, much to Koushirou's apprehension. They tied the poor boy up and gagged him when he ordered Tentomon to evolve to try to get away on Kabuterimon (Mimi told Palmon to pull Kabuterimon back to the ground with her vines) to get out of telling who it was for. The main person everyone figured it was for was Mimi. Mimi didn't mind the idea of it since, to her anyway, she felt she was very likeable. Hikari disagreed with the letter being for her. To make a long story short, Mimi and Hikari ended up getting into a fight, their Digimon battling one another and we never find out who the letter is for, because when Koushirou tells Tentomon, his computer beeps, so all we hear is the "san" part of it, which is ambiguous since Koushirou uses the "san" honorific with _all_ of the girls (Sora, Mimi, Hikari).

It was still a funny drama though. When they mentioned Sora, Sora was like, "I'm not into younger guys." When Hikari was mentioned, Jou pointed out that Koushirou would become part of the Yagami family and Yamato was all like, "I would never allow that to happen if that was my sister," and then it turns out that Taichi was against the idea of Koushirou liking Hikari. Either way, the main person assumed was definitely Mimi. In Japan, the pairing of Koushirou x Mimi was very popular at the time out of the Adventure pairings and is the only one, for the Adventure kids, to literally be focused on in that way just because of fan requests. When being interviewed, wish they could've questioned both Maeda Ai and Tenjin Umi on that set up.


	5. 05  Koushirou's Nighttime Discovery!

Hi again everyone, thanks for the reviews. Sorry I'm taking my time with putting up this chapter and for not getting the chance to read other fics. Seems I just don't have as much time lately, especially with the culture festival coming up, and having to prepare for that. Oh yeah, I also would like to apologize for the last chapter. I could've just cut the entire thing out, but, I felt it wouldn't have worked given how this chapter is. The last chapter was sort of needed because of Koushirou's leaving so abruptly. Anyway, originally, I had Koushirou more distant and quiet for the karaoke stuff. He was just there sitting and staring off into space. I'm sure most would've forgotten he was in the chapter (for the original) if I hadn't have had Miyako and the others urging him to sing and then his refusing and leaving. I say the rewrite is a _bit _of an improvement since he showed to have more signs of life, but not by much. At least he's not coming across like a recluse anymore, though, as that was never my true intention. Oh yeah, I did toss in more hints for it compared to how it was originally written.

Anyway, for this short chapter, as the title implies, Koushirou makes a discovery, and since it's nighttime, I tossed that in the title too. lol The discovery is going to answer one of Koushirou's many questions.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 05: Koushirou's Nighttime Discovery!

The train ride back didn't take him long, but Koushirou managed to get himself back home. Luckily, the trains ran a little past midnight, although, it was nearing 23:00 (11:00) by the time he'd arrived home. He saw his parents' shoes by the door, but given the time, figured they were in deep slumbers. Lately, both had been heading in to bed rather early.

Leaving the others behind at the karaoke box was unfortunate, but he just wasn't in the mood to fully socialize, no matter how much he tried to get his mind on it. This mood of his wasn't just a previous occurrence, but had been becoming slightly common even before the project was assigned.

Even though the boy had had pretty much two dinners _and _dessert he was still in the mood for a light snack. He rummaged through the refrigerator and saw the onigiri his mother had prepared earlier. There were still four of them left. He took out the small container and a can of juice, and headed to the table to eat them.

'What should I do?' the boy asked himself once again. 'They're having a child of their very own. They're going to have a _real_ child worthy enough to be called Izumi.' He fidgeted around with the onigiri. 'If they have a child of their very own, where does that leave…me?' He took another bite of the sweet onigiri. His eyes lit up. 'Ooo, this is _so_ good! I wish she'd make it like this more often!'

He gobbled down the rest of the snack, guzzled down the remains of his juice, put the container away, and tossed out the can, making his way to his room. He fell down onto his bed and lied on his side, trying his best to think up a solution to the problem that he would eventually have to face. He wasn't able to do so for long, though, as he heard a light knock on the front door.

Koushirou irritably got out of the bed, grumbling over his thoughts being disturbed. With his mother's fatigue lately, she could sleep through an earthquake if one hit, and his father was always a pretty heavy sleeper. Due to Koushirou being in one of his somewhat melancholy moods, he didn't bother checking to see who it was nor did he even look through the peep hole. He just opened the door, in hopes of getting whoever it was to leave.

"Mi-Mimi-san…"

"Hi, Koushirou!" the girl greeted brightly.

Surprised to see the girl at his door, he asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Silly, can't I come by and visit you if I want to?"

"Well, yeah…I suppose so," he responded slowly. Realizing how discourteous he was coming across, he hastily invited the girl in. Mimi stepped out of her shoes, and headed straight to his room without question. Koushirou followed behind her hesitantly. Once there, she shut the door and took a seat on his nicely made bed, while Koushirou remained standing, his back against the wall.

"So," the boy began, eyeing her suspiciously, especially since she'd closed the door, "what brings you here?"

"I'm not going to lie to you; I was just a bit concerned about you and since this _is_ on my way home, I just stopped by."

"Oh, well, there's nothing for you to worry about," he told her with a smile so forced, that even an unobservant one like Daisuke would've noticed it wasn't genuine.

"Oh no you're not!" the girl argued. "What's wrong, Koushirou? Why do you seem so distant now? You're even quieter than what you usually are. Tonight, you seemed down the entire time. Sure you would laugh or chuckle or attempt to join in every once in a while, but to me, it didn't feel as if you were having _fun_ or that being with us was a chore to you."

"No, no! It's nothing like that. I don't feel that spending time with you all is a bother! I enjoy your company."

"Then what is it?"

Koushirou felt like a heel. "Well, I-"

"Did you have a disagreement with your parents? Oh yes, and speaking of '_parents_', when are we going to start our assignment and when are _you_ going to start being truthful about the contents of it to your parents?"

"Mimi-san, I assure you that all is fine."

Mimi got up from the bed, and stepped up to the taller boy, getting into his face. "Even when we first became genuine friends during our Digital World adventure, I could tell when things _seemed_ to bother you, but I never made much of an attempt to get you to open up!" She turned her back to Koushirou, who seemed to breathe out in relief, as having her that close to him made him feel edgy. "Maybe I never tried because we weren't as good friends at that time, and never had much of an opportunity to try until coming back here, but I feel we're great friends now." She turned back around to face him. The look in her eyes had sort of a pleading gaze to them. She also now wore a small grimace on her clear face. The redhead averted his eyes so as not to get caught in the gaze of her big, innocent brown eyes. He was feeling uncomfortable again and bad that he was, in a way, causing Mimi's current state. "It's not good to hold things in. It just makes you irritable and cranky."

"I am _not_ irritable and cranky!"

"Case and point! You sounded irritable and cranky when saying that you weren't irritable and cranky." Koushirou gave off a bashful laugh. "So what's the matter," she asked, retaking her spot on the bed.

He sat at his computer desk. "Well, it's not really much, but I was just focused on the history project."

She gave him a look of skepticism. "Really?"

"Yes," the boy answered wearily, adding on to his half-truth. "I just want to make sure that I work up to the expectations Ishidzuka-sensei has."

"You're not _lying_ are you?"

"No, no, of course not!" he insisted while waving his hands.

"Alright then," she smiled gratefully, "what would you like to do now?"

"Do now? Do _what_?" he asked suspiciously as he mentally slapped himself for what had inadvertently popped into mind.

"We could work on our project and get some of the work done tonight."

"You know, I feel that we should wait on that. I still have some planning to do. So, would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"I'm fine. I'm still stuffed. Hey, where are your parents?"

'I guess she didn't notice their shoes at the door,' Koushirou concluded. "They're asleep, but both sleep heavy." He then forcibly joked, "I could blast the music incredibly loud, and they'd still remain asleep, but I couldn't say the same for the neighbors."

"So you mean we're alone?"

"Figuratively speaking, yes, we are alone."

She just "hmm'd". Koushirou was about to ask what she had in mind, when she patted the spot beside her on his bed. "Have a seat here where it's more comfortable. All I want to do is talk for a while."

"Um…I'll be fine right here," he told her flustered. Regaining his composure, slightly, he asked the girl, "So, what's on your mind?"

"I was curious about your mother and father."

Koushirou's expression slightly hardened, which Mimi noticed, unsure if it was intentional or not, but decided to dismiss it for now. "What about them?"

"Is everything okay with them?"

"Yes, they're okay. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I can't put my finger on it, but you seemed a bit put off by them. Almost hostile. I noticed it when we left this evening."

"Well, um, I was just overwhelmed by that history paper on Sakamoto Ryouma that I'm writing," he responded with a nervous laugh and grin.

"Koushirou! That's not funny!"

His grin faded. 'Since she _is_ my partner for this assignment, I'm going to have to tell her sooner or later that I'm actually adopted…'

"I really wish you would just let me know what's going on. It's better to talk about things that are bothering you than to keep them all bottled up inside. Does your mood have anything to do with why both your mother and father seemed so extra happy this evening like Sora-san and Yamato-san pointed out?"

Koushirou was a terrible liar, and Mimi, as well as Miyako, knew it. Taichi could also usually tell when the redhead was fibbing. Koushirou knew that he wouldn't be able to come up with anything _believa_ble so he decided to stick with the truth. He knew that he couldn't keep his mother's news secret for long, as she would definitely start showing sooner or later, unless she were to lose it early in the pregnancy, but he didn't even want to think of something so gruesome. A thought like that made the young computer whiz feel selfish and was surprised that it had even made its way to his mind in the first place.

"Yes…it does…"

"I _knew_ it! What's wrong with them? Why is their being happy upsetting you so much?" The boy took his time before answering. "Koushirou?"

"Well, my mother had a doctor's visit today. For the past week or so, she'd been coming across as weak and tired, had been having strange emotional episodes, like how she'd be very happy one minute, but maybe sad the next moment, and she had even been eating differently. She received her diagnosis today."

"Oh my gosh!"

"What? What?"

"Is your mother going to have a baby? Ooo, this must be so exciting for you! You're going to have yourself a baby brother or a baby sister! Oh, what if she has both!"

The idea of his mother giving birth to twins literally frightened him. "Yeah, exciting," he muttered.

Mimi noticed how unenthusiastic he was being, and couldn't help but be puzzled over it. "Why are you upset over them having a baby?"

Koushirou stood abruptly. "Mimi-san, it's getting a bit late. You should probably get home."

"But I-"

"It's nearly midnight and we do, unfortunately, have school tomorrow."

"But why is having a baby such a big deal to you? I figured that you of all people would enjoy having a brother or a sister since you've been an only child for so long."

"Mimi-san…I'll tell you about it later, I promise," he told her sympathetically. 'I don't have much of a choice…'

The girl could only nod. She didn't understand what the big secret could have been or why he was having such a difficult time accepting the fact that he was to be an older sibling soon, but she did feel that he was being honest with his promise. One thing Koushirou was known for, as well as both Iori and Jou, was their tendency to be honest and keeping their promises. It was one trait she found very becoming in a person.

The two exited his room and headed back to the front door. "Would you like for me to walk you home? It's the least I could do for you since you came over to see how I was. You didn't really have to."

She smiled sweetly at him. "I wanted to. That's what friends are for."

"R-right. I'll go get my jacket and walk you home."

Koushirou went back to his room to get his jacket, but soon remembered that his mother had sent it out to the cleaners for its weekly cleaning. Earlier that evening, he hadn't bothered wearing one. He'd worn a thin, long-sleeved shirt, but it was much cooler compared to earlier. He then considered wearing his uniform jacket, but decided against that. His shirt was thin, but his uniform jacket was much too thick for such a night. He hated the fact that it wasn't time to switch uniforms from winter to spring yet, as wearing it to school during this time of the year caused him to always feel overly warm.

The boy finally decided that he'd wear his old "play coat". He normally only wore this thin coat whenever he couldn't wear any of his others for some reason or another, but it rarely came up for him _to_ have to wear it. His mother usually kept this dingy grey coat in the hall closet, a place he rarely ever went to. The closet was mostly used for storing cleaning materials and boxes of documents and other things, but his jacket was probably there due to its being rarely used. He opened the door and searched through the closet for the article of clothing. It had been about a year since he'd seen it last.

'I hope it's still here and I hope mother didn't get rid of it. I would hate to wake her up for something so trivial.' Another thought then came to mind. 'Wow, I hope it actually still fits. I haven't worn it since last year's rainy season.'

Koushirou looked up on the top shelf, and saw a box, with what looked to be a sleeve hanging out of it. He recognized it instantly. He reached up effortlessly for the partially-opened box. Luckily for the once-short boy, he didn't need to use a step ladder or a step stool as he'd grown quite a bit within the past year or so. He was taller than Mimi and Miyako, and those two were always the tallest of the girls out of their Chosen Children (Digidestined) group.

He saw that on top of the box with the jacket, was another box, but it was filled with different papers. He grabbed the box with his jacket, trying to take out both at the same time. He maneuvered it well enough, and opened up the box with his jacket. He slipped it on, glad that it still fit, for the most part, but was a bit shorter from when he last wore it, since he was taller now.

He put both boxes back on the top shelf. "I found my jacket, Mimi-san. I'm ready to go."

"Okay," the girl called back.

Koushirou started to close the door of the organized closet, when he heard something drop. It was the box of papers he'd put back onto the top shelf of the closet. He, apparently, hadn't put the box back on the shelf all the way and it fell, its top flying right off. He kneeled down and started to pick the papers up, and stuffing them back into the box, until one paper caught his eye. He read over the paper's letterhead. His eyes went wide. '*Nerima Adoption Agency!'

Curious as to what had happened, Mimi walked up. "Koushirou, is something wrong?"

The boy took all of the papers and stuffed them back into the box quickly after he was called. "Cl-clumsy me," he slightly panicked. "Well, let's get going." He shut the closet door.

"Huh? What?"

He grabbed Mimi's shoulders, and led her back to the front door. "We really should get going."

After stepping into their shoes, both left. Koushirou was definitely in a hurry, and was anxious to return home. Those papers could have the answers to the questions that had been in the back of his mind for the past 8 years of his life…

Author's Note and Fic Chapter Changes

Note 1: Originally, I had this as the Hikarigaoka Adoption Agency. Hikarigaoka, as mentioned earlier, is in the Nerima ward. At the time I originally wrote this, I didn't know that. The full set up would be, Hikarigaoka, Nerima-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

There were other things changed from the original for this chapter. One change is the location of where Mimi and Koushirou's conversation took place. I had that they were in the living room for the discussion as opposed to his room. I changed that because I wanted more uncomfortable tension from Koushirou's side.

Another change is the time. Originally, I had written that it was after 10:00 (22:00) not 11:00 (23:00). I also had Mimi, in the original, mention how Miyako wanted to come over, but she couldn't because she had to get home, and how her brother picked her up. Given the area, it wouldn't have worked too well.

Originally, I had Koushirou eating a sandwich, not onigiri.

When offered something to eat/drink, Mimi asked for some of Mrs. Izumi's "famous lemonade". I also didn't have them eating snacks/meals when doing all of the karaoke stuff last chapter, which is why I had Mimi take Koushirou up on his offer for this chapter originally, but since I added that they ate last chapter, there was no need to have her eat again.

The Izumis weren't home for the original version of this chapter and Koushirou's train of thought also wasn't as suggestive. I only changed this because, well, the idea of him thinking in such a way is more amusing.

Another change…I still have Koushirou enjoying sweets and treats and that he does have a healthy appetite, but not to the point of his coming across as having a stomach with a bottomless pit. I find that amusing and entertaining too for some reason.


	6. 06  Surprising Origin

Hi again everyone, I hope you don't mind my putting this up now. Going to be a bit busy, so wanted to get this out of the way now. I also I hope that this is getting interesting for you. Koushirou has found his adoption papers, and will discover something _very_ interesting pertaining to them. Stick around to find out. Mimi also talks to her friends before going to bed about her conversation with Koushirou.

Oh, and for those who are fans of the younger group (Hikari, Takeru, Ken, Daisuke, Iori), they will be in here, there just won't be as much focus on them compared to the others (Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Miyako). Jou also won't be focused on as much. He will show up again, but not much, just like the younger group since they all go to different schools.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 06: The Surprising Origin of Izumi Koushirou!

Mimi was lied out on her bed comfortably, content, with the cordless phone attached to her ear in a three-way phone conversation, since her mobile phone was charging. "I hope it's not too late for you, Sora-san, Miyako-chan…"

"It's no problem at all, Mimi-chan."

"It's _so_ cool how your aunt and uncle have three-way calling, and if one of us gets another call, we can put that through too!" Miyako squealed.

"It really is. It was a present from my aunt and uncle for being such a well-mannered house-guest and for being such a good help to them with my cousins."

The three girls, for a while, started to talk about their night at the karaoke box and how much fun they'd had and thanked the girl many times for inviting them. The conversation then changed to that of a certain redheaded boy.

"So, how was Izumi-senpai? Didn't you say you were going to drop by his place before going home since he was pretty much a bore for all of tonight?"

"Yeah, and he was acting _really_ strangely, you two."

"In what way?" asked Miyako.

"Well, remember how we all noticed how Mr. and Mrs. Izumi were acting? Well, it had something to do with that."

"Is that what's affecting the mood of Koushirou-kun?"

"Yes, it is, but the thing that's puzzling me is _why_. I just don't understand why he'd act in such a way over his parents' news."

"Ooo, what's the news?" asked an anxious Miyako.

"Is it good news or bad news?"

"It's normally considered good news to the average person."

"If it's good, how come he's being so edgy over it?"

"She _did_ say that this was good news to the _average_ person, and Izumi-senpai is nowhere _near_ average, let alone normal."

"Aww, Miyako-chan," Sora laughed.

"Just kidding," she laughed along.

"So, Mimi-chan, if this news is so good, how come he is acting so peculiar?"

"I don't know. I tried to get that information out of him, but I didn't get any. I could only figure out what was bothering him, not particularly why." Mimi inwardly sighed. 'I even gave him the ohagi I made that I was going to give him tomorrow at school before he left. Maybe by tomorrow, he'll say something about it.'

"Oneesama, don't leave us in suspense! Tell us the news!"

"So it definitely _does_ have something to do with his parents?"

"Yeah…" Mimi told her simply.

"But they were so happy when they left us to go out, but Izumi-senpai wasn't fully. He almost seemed distracted. I wonder what the news is…" Miyako hinted, ready to burst from not knowing.

"Mr. and Mrs. Izumi are going to have a baby!"

Miyako's eyes went wide. "Are you sure?"

"Wait, wait, Mimi-chan. Did he come right out and _say_ that their having a baby is what's bothering him?"

"Well...he didn't really say anything, but he did have a negative reaction to it, in my opinion."

"It's never come to mind, but I never would've guessed that Koushirou-kun would have a problem with having a younger brother or sister."

"Maybe he's been an only child for so long that he doesn't want to change that."

"I sometimes wondered what it would be like to have a brother or a sister, but living here with my aunt is enough for me. My cousins are like the younger siblings I've never had, and I really enjoy being around them. I wonder why my parents never had any other children."

"Maybe one of you was enough, for them," Sora giggled.

"Very funny," Mimi laughed.

"There's only one Mimi-sama."

"You got _that_ right," Mimi said with a big smile.

"I always wondered what it would've been like if I'd been an only child, but after a while of thinking about it, I think I'd go nuts without my brother and sisters. I've gotten so used of having Mantarou-niichan, Momoe-neechan, and Chizu-nee around I couldn't imagine my life without them. I wouldn't trade them away for anything, no matter _how_ much they drive me crazy at times."

"Well, look on the bright side," Sora began, "you're the youngest. Pretty soon, you may have the entire place to yourself if your sisters decide to go to universities abroad or those in another city. Is your brother still at home?"

"Yes, he's still at home. He takes the bus back and forth. He's actually going to be graduating soon. Momoe-neechan is going to be graduating high school soon, and Chizu-nee is about to graduate too. Sora-san, do you have any classes with her?"

"No, Chizuru-san and I don't share the same classes. I'm in class 3-B along with Taichi; I'm pretty sure she's in class 3-C, with Yamato."

"I forgot about that! I think I do remember Chizu-nee talking about Yamato-san and how the girls act all silly over him."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you two," Mimi cut in, her eyelids growing heavy, "but what about Koushirou?"

"Well, there really isn't much we _can_ do about him," Sora told her regrettably. "If he wants to act all stubborn over his mother having a baby, then there really isn't much we can do to stop him from feeling that way or change his mind."

"But we _can_ find out what he has against their having one."

"You're both right."

"Mimi-chan, I wouldn't worry too much over it."

"I guess, but I do intend on finding out if it _kills_ me, and this history project we have to work on will be the perfect opportunity for me to!"

"How?"

"Yeah, I thought you and Koushirou-kun just had to write a report or something."

"No, we were paired to do a research type project. I was just surprised when he said he'd already started it."

"That's weird. Why did Koushirou-kun lie about something like that?"

"The mystery is thickening, isn't it Sora-san?"

"Yes, it really does seem like it. Don't you agree, Mimi-chan?"

There was silence.

"Mimi-chan?"

"Mimi-sama?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking about Koushirou again. I don't know why, but I'm a little worried about him."

"It's probably more so your curiosity over his peculiar behavior than worry," Miyako wisely input.

"You two, I think we should call it a night."

"Yeah, I am a bit tired. Sora-san is right; we probably should call it a night. I'm going to bed. If I find out anything more about Koushirou, I'll definitely let you two know about it."

"Right."

"Good night Mimi-chan."

"Good night, Mimi-oneesama."

"Good night, Sora-san, Miyako-chan…"

After hanging up, the girl changed into her pajamas and put in some hair curlers, so that her hair could keep that wavy look. When done, she pulled on her night cap. 'Koushirou is acting way too weird for my liking,' the girl thought as she headed to her bed. 'Koushirou, what's wrong with you? Why were you so anxious to get back home? He didn't even get the chance to taste my ohagi…'

She lied in her bed restless, thinking about her walk home with Koushirou…  


* * *

_Koushirou's plan was to walk Mimi to the front door of the Nishimura home, so that he could see her in and leave quickly. Those papers were much too intriguing to him._

_The two were now walking down the block. Surprisingly, the Nishimura home wasn't too far from Mimi's friends' apartment complexes. All of them could pretty much walk there within 30 – 50 minutes, and even faster by bus or bike. In Koushirou's case, he was about 30 minutes away from her by foot, but could make it there in about 15 - 20 minutes by bike, depending on the speed, of course. Due to how late it was, the buses weren't running, but Mimi didn't mind the trek with the boy, who seemed to be speed walking._

"_Um, why are you in such a hurry?" _

"_Well, um…the sooner you get home, the better," he responded shortly._

"_Is that __**really**__ all?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Slow down and I'll explain what I mean." Koushirou, reluctantly, slowed down. "There, that's better. Now, ever since you went into that closet to get your jacket, you've been acting stranger than what you already were…"_

_He couldn't help but laugh. "Me, strange?" _

_She smiled weakly, giving off a small laugh herself. That had to sound outlandish. "Yep, strange."_

"_Well, I just want you to hurry and get home, so that you'll be safe, that's all." Mimi found the excuse a lame one, as there was nothing unsafe about the walk to her home. "I also don't want you to get into any trouble because of your visiting me."_

"_You still seem to be in a rush." _

_Without realizing it, the boy's pace had, once again, quickened. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."_

"_That's okay, I guess. At least you're talking to me."_

_The two continued the walk in a deafening silence after that, pretty much, only speaking seldom, Koushirou giving one-word responses to much of what Mimi had to say. Koushirou just wasn't in a talking mood, which wasn't a full surprise to Mimi, as he always seemed to be drowned in his thoughts, but she could definitely tell that the boy had a lot on his mind this time, as even he'd never been quiet to this extent before. She knew that the walk was going to end soon, as her aunt and uncle's place grew nearer. She decided that she was going to definitely speak up once arriving at her doorstep._

"_Well, here we are, but before you go, hold on a moment." Before he could protest, the girl rushed into the house and headed straight for the kitchen. The tin she had left on the countertop was still there. She picked it up and went back to the front door, handing it to Koushirou. "I forgot to give this to you earlier." She blushed slightly. "This afternoon, you didn't want to come in, and when we came by, I forgot to bring it with me. It's the ohagi I made."_

"_Wow, thank you, Mimi-san. Well, um, you're home now," he told her quickly. "G'night."_

_Mimi stared at the boy in surprise as he started back down the walkway. That was all? She definitely couldn't let this go. "So, what exactly is bothering you, Izumi Koushirou?" she called to him. "What's so wrong that it's causing you to act so distant with me? Something that you've never done before! Even Taichi-san and the others are noticing that you're acting out of the ordinary."_

_He was caught off guard by the question, and turned around to face the girl, who had made her way towards him and was now in front of him. He didn't know what to say to her or how to respond to such a query. He had done a good job of avoiding the subject earlier, but didn't think that she would bring it back up, but then again, this was Tachikawa Mimi; she always tried to cheer her friends up no matter what problem they could be having or what discrepancies they could have been going through or experiencing._

_Right now, the two were just standing there, caught in each other's gaze, underneath a clear, moonlit sky. Koushirou was still trying to think of a way to respond to Mimi's question, but being caught in her gaze, staring into her clear, innocent brown eyes, had distracted him tremendously. He usually went out of his way to avoid looking at the girl directly in any type of way, unless he had no choice, as it always gave him a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, especially lately, but this time, he hadn't prepared himself. Mimi looked pretty to him at the moment, but it was strange how he had never really allowed himself to consciously notice it before. He did admit to himself, at that particular moment, despite how much he didn't want to, that Mimi was a pretty young girl, but he soon shook off the thought quickly, mainly because of Mimi's breaking his train of thought._

"_Well?" the girl demanded, her arms crossed, and her foot tapping._

"_Oh, uh…um…sorry."_

"_What's with you, Koushirou?"_

_Trying to get the girl's pretty image out of his mind, he asked, in forced annoyance, "Why do you care, anyway?"_

"_Why? Why?" Mimi asked in disbelief, throwing her arms up in the air. "Isn't it obvious 'why'? It's because I'm your friend! I'm worried about you! I care about you! Something is bothering you, and I am going to figure out what that something is so that I can help you! I wouldn't be me if I didn't!"_

_The boy stood there, staring down at the tin of ohagi Mimi had given him. He didn't know what to say. He knew he needed to tell her, but for some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to share his secret with anyone, Mimi included._

"_I-I-I have to go, okay. G'bye."_

_He turned and ran away from Mimi as fast as he possibly could. He couldn't bear to see that hurt face of hers again, especially since he had, once again, caused her such dismay. 'I'll tell you soon, Mimi-san, but not yet. I'm just not ready to yet, but why is this bothering me so much? It's such a simple task…'_

_She stared at the boy running down the pathway leading away from her home. She just didn't understand the boy, or what he was going through._

'Koushirou, stop being so secretive all of the time!' She turned over on her side, and mumbled, "Just tell me what's bothering you…"

* * *

At the same time as Mimi said, "Just tell me what's bothering you…"

'I'll tell you everything, Mimi-san,' he unlocked the door of his home, 'I _promise_!'

The boy had finally reached his home. He took the long way home, thinking about Mimi's nice gesture of giving him the tin of one of his favorite treats, and of how he was pretty much upsetting her. After entering the home, he focused once more, his destination the hall closet. He took off his jacket, and tossed it aside, and left the tin with it.

He took down the box, and searched through it ferociously. 'Where's that paper, c'mon, where's that blasted paper I saw!'

Apparently, when Mimi startled him earlier, and he rushed to put all of the papers back, he had put them all back out of order. So far, all he was seeing were old sales receipts, ticket stubs, and other important looking documents. He didn't bother reading or looking over any of them. He just glanced at them, and if he didn't see either the word "Nerima" or "Adoption", he wasn't giving it any mind.

He looked and looked, but he _just_ couldn't find the paper he had come across earlier. Normally, when in a rush, he understood how it was easy to overlook things, but at the moment, he wasn't applying that logic. Frustrated, he threw some of the papers down onto the floor. 'Where is it!'

Right at that moment, Koushirou found an important looking document, which had written on its letter head, "Nerima Adoption Agency" and how it was through the Hikarigaoka branch. His eyes lit up as he started to read the paper over.

***Nerima Adoption Agency, page 2**

**Adoption granted to: Izumi Masami, 28 & Izumi Yoshie, 25**

**Name of Adopted Child: Izumi Koushirou**

**Sex: Male**

**D.O.B: 1989.11.17**

**Age: 6 months**

**Hair Color: Red**

**Eye Color: Black**

**Blood Type: AB**

**Adoption Finalization: 1990.05.15**

**Nationality: Japanese American**

**Place of Birth: Manhattan, New York, USA/Mount Sinai Hospital**

Koushirou stared down at the paper in disbelief, ignoring the rest of the information, which was of no use to him. First, he was disappointed that he couldn't find the other pages, which would have probably contained the information involving his biological parents, but on this page, it didn't say he was born at Nerima General Hospital or the Nerima Hikarigaoka Hospital or even Seibo Hospital, which was known for being a maternity hospital, like he'd always figured.

"New York?" he uttered. "I was born in an American hospital? This Mount Sinai place? Would that mean that I'm part American? Was my mother American? Was my father American?"

The boy sat on the floor and tried to process all of the information. It just wasn't making any sense to him. Sure he didn't have all of the typical features associated with the average Japanese person, but he always considered himself to be a true Japanese citizen.

"Japanese American?" he said again. "Is Koushirou even my real name? Does this mean that I'm not really an Izumi?" He mentally slapped himself. 'No kidding! Of course not! I've known I wasn't an Izumi for years. This paper just confirms it now.'

Koushirou stood up and started to put the papers back, and was planning on taking his time to search through them more thoroughly, but felt he needed a break. He had been shocked enough for one night. He picked up his jacket, and put it back in its appropriate spot and closed the closet door. He then grabbed the tin Mimi had given him, and headed to his room. He took a seat at his computer, setting the tin on his desk. Sleep was definitely out for him. There was too much going through his mind for that. After a short while, he decided to try his luck again with his search.

Time he got to his door he heard a noise coming from up the hall. He opened his door just a tad, and ducked his head out slightly to see his mother and father leaving their bedroom. "We sure did have fun tonight, didn't we?" Mrs. Izumi said with a yawn.

"Yes, we sure did. I know I have to go to work, but we really haven't spent time like that in years. I almost feel like a teenager."

"A romantic walk along with two ice creams was perfect."

"When was the last time we've spent time like that together?"

"Not since we were first married and not since we lost…" The woman went quiet and lowered her head, unable to finish.

* * *

'Lost what? What did she lose?'

* * *

"Don't get too upset over it," Mr. Izumi told his wife. "Maybe this baby will be reborn from him. You know, like a reincarnation."

"Do you _really_ think so?"

"Of course, it was just meant to be. Now, what was it that you wanted that you woke up almost instantly for?"

"I do apologize for waking you up, but I wanted to get everything together so that I can go over the monthly budget tomorrow. I wanted to do so while I still remembered. I have been a bit forgetful lately."

"Nothing wrong with that," the man yawned deeply, as he recalled how she had been during her first pregnancy. She was incredibly forgetful during that time.

"Where are all of the receipts?"

"They're in the usual place; the white box on the top shelf of the hall closet."

"Okay, I'll get it."

"No, _I'll_ get it. You shouldn't be doing any reaching or lifting anyway. I don't want you to over-exert yourself. If you need anything, just let either me or Koushirou know."

"Alright. Thank you so much."

"No problem." The man went to the closet and took out the box Koushirou had been looking through earlier.  


* * *

After hearing the closet door open and close from his room, he cursed himself. 'Why me? How am I going to find out more about my birth parents, if they have the papers?'

He sat back down on his bed and tuned his parents out, trying to come up with a solution to his current problem. His mind was also on what his mother had said earlier, about "losing" something.  


* * *

"I remember when we were pregnant the first time," Mrs. Izumi laughed slightly. "I proved to you that I could take care of myself, but I do appreciate the offer you made to help me whenever necessary, but I'm not far enough along to have to be treated like some kind of a delicate flower."

"I guess I'm out of practice. I'm not really experienced with this."

"I know, and now that you got the box for me, we can head back to bed. At least if I see it sitting next to the bed, I'll remember."

The man yawned again. "Y-yeah."

The two cut off the lights, and headed back to bed for a well-deserved rest…  


* * *

Koushirou started to pace back and forth in his room. 'What do I do now?' He continued to walk around his room, when it hit him. 'I'm a _genius_! Why didn't I think of this before? I could try breaking into the adoption agency's database, and once I'm in, I could probably find the information I'm looking for, especially since I know the date my adoption was finalized.'

Koushirou hopped into his chair and booted up his desktop computer. He searched the web and managed to get to the adoption agency's page. He started to type in commands and such to try to get into the network, which he managed, but was having difficulty getting past that part. The encryption was so strong on the files that he needed, that he couldn't manage to find a way to bypass it.

'Wow, I don't know _what_ kind of a program they're using to prevent people from breaking into their database, but it must be highly advanced since I've never encountered such a thing before. I better make sure I'm very careful so that it won't be traced back to me.'

He muttered something under his breath, and kept trying. He had yet to come across a program that he couldn't break or a database he couldn't hack his way into. He'd always considered himself to be a professional when it came to these types of things, yet, if one were to accuse him of being a professional hacker, he would jump down that person's throat, and strongly insist that he wasn't.

Almost an hour passed by, and he still was no closer to breaking his way through. 'Seems there's only one thing I _can_ do. I'll have to go there directly to find this information myself, but I'm not going to quit yet! There _has_ to be a way to get through this!'

Koushirou kept at it, trying hacking trick after hacking trick, none of which actually worked or helped him out in any way possible, but, his determination and will kept him going for the rest of the night…

Fic Chapter Changes

No notes for this section, for the most part, aside from my apologizing as to what goes on an adoption form. I was just assuming as to what would be on one, so yes, please forgive me if I've shown anything that's inaccurate or off, in that regard.

Now, it's time for the changes in this chapter. The biggest one is that Hikari was dropped from this chapter altogether. It seemed forced anyway. Originally, she called Miyako, and Miyako beeped her in. It was just a way to get her into this fic to introduce the notion of the whole Takeru x Hikari/Daisuke x Hikari thing for the readers. She was calling to get advice as she was having boy trouble. Both boys are trying to get her to like them. She did admit to liking one of them, but didn't say who (for the readers to guess based on the clues in later chapters). She wanted to know what she could do to let the other one down gently. Given that her character is an Elementary-School student, and that it was late, I just felt that it _shouldn't_ work here. I was pushing it with the other characters being up so late, imo. Also, looking back on it, I felt that it was out of character for her to be calling up anyone just to talk about boys. She doesn't strike me as the type that would. To be honest, the only character I could see talking about boys on a semi-regular basis is Miyako.

The other change is Mr. Izumi's age (I originally had his age as 25) and Koushirou's blood-type. I didn't use one originally. I can see a bit of A and B in him, which is why I went with AB type (ironically, Miyako is an AB type, as it was mentioned in the series, and that she was a Gemini). I also, when originally writing this story, had considered making him a Virgo, but decided to stick with Scorpio for a very interesting reason, which you will see later on. I also added that Koushirou was born at Mount Sinai. I didn't have any hospital mentioned originally.

As it was mentioned last chapter, the Izumis weren't originally home. When Koushirou started looking through the papers and found that page from the adoption agency, he had to hurriedly put it back because he heard the front door about to be opened. Koushirou did end up rushing back into his room to hide and the whole budget conversation occurred between Mr. and Mrs. Izumi, and then they took the box down that was in the closet.

I cut back on Mrs. Izumi's mollycoddling of Koushirou. I wrote about how she wanted to check up on Koushirou, and how Mr. Izumi talked her out of it.

Originally, I didn't have Mimi give Koushirou the tin of ohagi, as I'd originally forgotten to, but had always intended to. This is kind of a hint within itself. She made a homemade treat for the boy specifically. Was it platonic, or was there more to it, only sub-consciously?


	7. 07  Mimi's Two Invitations

Hi again everyone, and thanks for the comments. I really appreciate them.

Mimi for this chapter will be receiving two invitations, as the title suggests. Which will she accept? What exactly are the invitations for? Anyway, enjoy all. Oh, and, once again, this chapter may seem long, but it really isn't. It's the author's notes at the end of it that's making it seem longer than what it is.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 07: The Two Invitations and Mimi's Decision!

Morning had finally arrived, and people all over the city were preparing for work or school, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. In the Izumi home, it was a somewhat different story, as everyone was tired or sleepy that morning…

"Today is definitely going to be tiring for the both of us," Mrs. Izumi said while pouring out a cup of coffee for her husband and putting down a plate which consisted of toast. "This coffee should help."

"Thank you."

"We sure did act like a couple of teenagers last night," she winked to him as she put down a plate of toast for herself. "I was even more energetic," she teased, setting a jar of marmalade down onto the table.

"Yeah, but it was really fun, and you really were," the man said with a small chuckle while reading through the morning paper.

She took a seat at the table. "Do you think we should have brought something back for Koushirou? I didn't even think about it."

"Nah. He likes too many strange combinations for ice cream toppings, like avocado, chocolate, jelly bean candies, and who knows what else. Besides, it would've melted before coming home."

"That's definitely a strange combination. He would have had to have come with us for all of those toppings, even though most ice cream shops don't have those choices of toppings."

"I can't help but wonder where he could have gotten that from…" The man stopped short, realizing what he'd said.

The woman frowned. "Yeah…I wonder…"

The man coughed. "W-wow, seems that most of the stocks are down today," he said as he shuffled through the newspaper, stopping at the business section.

"Yeah…"

The man put his paper down. "Um…shouldn't Koushirou be up by now?"

"Wow, you're right," she said while looking at the clock. The woman got up from her seat, and shouted down the hall, "Koushirou! It's time for breakfast and you need to hurry up and get to school!"

"I'm surprised he isn't up yet. He must've come in later than we thought."

"I don't remember hearing him come in…"

"That wouldn't be a surprise, 'Miss Energetic'," Mr. Izumi sniggered.

"Oh stop! Maybe he didn't hear me. I'm going to get him."

* * *

Koushirou was sleeping soundly. His laptop's alarm went off, but he was in such a deep sleep, he didn't even hear it. His mother heard the alarm from the other side, and rapped lightly on the door.

"Koushirou! Koushirou! Is everything all right in there?"

Hearing the knocking and the alarm, the boy finally managed to sit up and rub his eyes. It then hit him that his alarm was blaring, and that the knocking sound, was coming from his door. "Hi mother," he yawned and stretched. He then looked up at his wall clock and literally screamed, "OH NO, I'M LATE!"

The boy gathered a few things and rushed out of the room. All Mrs. Izumi saw was a redheaded blur open the door and zoom right past her to the washroom. She couldn't help but smile at the scene.

* * *

"Well?" the man asked, the woman retaking her seat.

"Seems he overslept." Mrs. Izumi grew a bit worried and her smile faded. "That is _very_ unlike him. He's always been quite punctual. What if something's wrong? What if it _is_ the pregnancy? What if he really disapproves of or our having a child? What if-"

"Yoshie, you worry too much. I'm sure it's nothing. Are you feeling guilty again?"

"_Very_ guilty," she sighed. "A part of me wants to tell him about his adoption, but-"

"If we told him about his adoption, we would probably lose him."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, we would probably end up losing him. Knowing him, he'd probably go off in search of his real family, _especially_ his biological mother's."

"But they're _dead_!" the woman hissed.

"He would still probably go out looking regardless. He may even feel unwanted by us, especially with this child coming along. This is Koushirou we're talking about here, who has the tendency of wanting to know everything. He's always been the highly curious type, and knowing his luck, he just may find some other blood relative that was somehow overlooked when they were trying to place him. That boy was a blessing to us, and I love that boy like he was my very own son. I don't want to lose him!"

"But…"

Mr. Izumi grabbed Mrs. Izumi's hand from across the table. "Let's wait a while longer before we tell him. At least let's wait until after he's gotten used to the idea of having a younger sibling. Let's wait until he graduates from high school in a few years. I personally would feel more comfortable waiting a little while longer before revealing that to him."

Mrs. Izumi wasn't all that thrilled of the idea, but she did agree with him over how Koushirou was a blessing to them. Once again, she complied with her husband's request and nodded slowly. "I guess you're right. We should wait." She sighed, while nibbling on her toast. 'I know this is wrong. We really ought to tell him about his adoption. The longer we wait, the more difficult it'll be when the time _does_ come for us to tell him.

'What if he ends up hating us for not telling him sooner? What if we _do_ lose him?' She shook off the thought. 'No, I can't think that way. I'll just do as Masami says. If he feels we should wait, then I will have to go along with it, no matter _how_ much I may disagree with him.'

Right at that moment, Koushirou walked in dressed in his uniform and holding his book bag, oblivious to the conversation that had just taken place between his parents. Seeing the boy, she went off to the kitchen, and came back, setting a plate down in Koushirou's usual spot.

"Good morning, mother, father. I'm sorry, but I can't eat breakfast right now."

"But I made your favorite, eggs topped with ponzu."

"I'm really sorry," he apologized again while giving his mother a small hug, which she didn't return, "but I'm really late."

"Sit down now!" Mrs. Izumi ordered sternly.

Mr. Izumi looked up from his paper, his mouth hanging while Koushirou sat down almost instantly. The tone his mother had used was downright scary.

"Eat something! It's not good to go to school with an empty stomach!"

"But I could pick up something along the way or-or something," he told her timidly.

"I guess…" she murmured, while sitting down herself.

Noticing how upset she was getting, he decided to eat. He didn't want to hurt her feelings, even though, honestly, he was planning on eating Mimi's ohagi due to how late he was. He was hesitant on eating them due to the way he had left Mimi the previous night.

"Son," Mr. Izumi coughed, still surprised over how irritable his wife had gotten, "how come you slept in this morning? What time did you get in last night?"

Koushirou thought for a moment. He had spent the entire night trying to hack his way into the adoption agency's database, but was still unable to get through. Not wanting to tell them that, he came up with something else. "I'm not sure what time I got in, but you two were already asleep when I did. If it helps, the trains were still running. Anyway, I spent my time last night researching. I stayed up later than I anticipated."

"Hm, well your school projects are important. Now, go on to school."

"But he didn't finish his breakfast!" In reality, Koushirou hadn't even started it.

"He'll be late for school." The middle-aged man pulled out his wallet. He went through it, and pulled out a ¥2000 note and handed it to the boy, who was very surprised, especially since snacks were about ¥50 or ¥100, and that a ¥2000 note was rare, but figured he didn't have anything smaller than that. "Here, take this and keep the change. Pick up a snack for breakfast today and if you want, you can buy something for lunch instead of carrying. You could call this an early allowance for you."

"W-well, um…th-thank you." He pocketed the bill.

"But I _like_ to prepare his lunches!"

'She's going through those crazy mood swings already? I thought it would have been too early for that. If she's like this and it's just her first month, what in the world is she going to be like weeks from now?' He didn't want to think about it and shuddered at the thought. During the first pregnancy, she wasn't as irritable or touchy. Her mood changes weren't all that bad either, even though it was very spontaneous whenever she did have them. The only thing that had been consistent from the first pregnancy was her bouts of fatigue and slight forgetfulness. He wondered if it had anything to do with her being older this time around. "Don't worry about it. Let him buy today. It's not often he buys lunch."

"Okay, fine, if you say so. I'm a bit tired." She stood. "I think I'll go back to bed for a while." She then put on a smile, which looked a bit forced. "Have a nice day at school, Koushirou."

The teen didn't know what to think, but he looked to his mother apologetically, and just nodded to her before rushing off towards the front door. He stepped into his shoes, and hurried out the door to avoid being later than what he already was.

"Yoshie, what's the matter?"

"I-I don't know. When you gave him that money, I felt as if he…he…"

"He what?"

"That he didn't like my cooking!"

'Oh brother,' the man thought dubiously. "Koushirou _does_ appreciate you _and_ your cooking! He was willing to sit down here and eat just to show how much he cares about you."

"I didn't mean to get upset," she sniffled. "I just don't know what's wrong with me! Sometimes I'm really happy, and then there are other times where I want things done my way or just don't want to be bothered."

"Well, I _could_ take some of my vacation time from work to stay here with you."

"No, you go ahead. I already had plans for today, like the budgeting and I have to prepare a special dinner tonight for both you and Koushirou."

"That's nice of you, and I'm going to buy lunch today since I have a lunch meeting." He hugged the woman. "I'll see you tonight at dinner." He grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door, leaving the woman alone...

* * *

Koushirou made it to school _just_ in time. Picking up a snack was definitely not on the agenda. He had run pretty much the entire way. By the time he arrived, the gates were closing. He slipped in just barely. Ignoring his growling stomach, he took his seat. Since arriving at school, he had been fighting sleep the entire time.

At the moment, he was sitting through his math class with Ms. Konishi. Having to sit in the same classroom all day, despite the breaks in between, was boring, so that wasn't helping Koushirou much. He only had a few more minutes until their lunch break, but his eyelids were closed, his book was propped up, and his head was resting comfortably on his desktop. Sleeping in class was something he _definitely_ didn't do. Taichi, sure. Daisuke, definitely. For him, no. Luckily, for the boy, they were on a little break since everyone had finished up early. Ms. Konishi told the students to keep busy, the class rep in charge, while she ran off to get something. That pretty much meant that the classroom was without a teacher as of the moment and the students were up and about socializing.

"Yo, Izumi, wake up!"

"I really enjoyed the snacks you prepared for me, Mimi-san," the boy muttered incoherently. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

"Izumi!" The person shook him awake.

"Huh, what!" the boy snorted, awaking from his slumber. He looked up to see who had addressed him. "Oh, Ueda-san," he yawned sleepily, while Yuuji took a seat at the vacant desk beside Koushirou.

"What'd you just say about Mimi-san and snacks?" he asked him suspiciously.

He shrugged, his eyes still slightly droopy. "I don't know." He tried to remember his dream, but couldn't due to how he was startled awake. The only thing he could remember was that he was eating for it due to his growling stomach.

"You nodded off, and I couldn't hear anything that Konishi-sensei was saying over _your_ snoring," the boy joked. "You're lucky she didn't catch you."

"Yeah, whatever," the boy grumbled, not really paying attention.

"Seriously, though, what's wrong with you? I've _never_ seen you sleep in class before."

"Oh, no need to worry." He thought for a second, as he wanted to get Yuuji off of his case. He wasn't in the best of moods, and his stomach was empty. He hated the fact that their school's lunch hour was late compared to the other schools. Their school's lunch hour was from 13:30 ~ 14:30 (1:30 – 2:30). Forty-five minutes for lunch and fifteen for cleaning time. "I suppose I'm a bit tired from hanging out in Palette Town last night for karaoke and missed breakfast, and wasn't able to eat my snack that was made for me."

"_You_ went to a karaoke box?" the boy asked in shock. "_Really_?"

"It wasn't _my_ idea to go."

He, once again, gave Koushirou another suspicious look. "Then whose idea was it to go and _who_ made you the snack?"

"Mimi-san."

"Mimi-chan! What about me! Why didn't she invite me! Why did she make _you_ a snack?" the boy wailed, tears streaming down his face.

While Yuuji was busy wallowing in self-pity, which was Koushirou's main objective, even though mentioning the snacks was more of a sub-conscious remark, his mind wandered again. 'So, I was born in America. Did the Izumis know this prior to adopting me? Why was _I _never told that I was born in New York? I don't understand why they wouldn't tell me that at least…then again, I never questioned it, so maybe that's why. Either way, I still can't help but wonder why they're keeping all this away from me. It _just_ doesn't compute…'

"Izumi!"

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"What's the deal?"

"The deal with what?"

"With you and Mimi-chan?"

"The deal with Mimi-san?" he asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me," the boy told him harshly. "What's going on with you two?"

"Going _on_ with us? I still don't understand..."

"How long have you and Mimi-chan been a couple?"

"A-a what?" the boy loudly shouted. All the students of the class looked back in Koushirou's direction, which caused the computer whiz's face to turn red from the unwanted attention he was now receiving. He lowered his voice some, and said, in surprise, "A couple? You _are_ joking, right?"

'I wasn't expecting him to react like that,' the boy silently noted. "What are _you_ talking about?"

"I do _not_ like Mimi-san in that way. We are friends, and nothing more," he managed to get out. Once again, it somewhat bothered him to have to say something like that, but he still couldn't help but give off an exasperated sigh over the accusation. "Why do people keep making that assumption anyway?"

"Well, you just said that Mimi-chan invited you out for karaoke _and_ she made you homemade treats!"

"It was a group activity," Koushirou informed him irritably, but racked his brain trying to recall when he had actually mentioned the ohagi Mimi had given him.

"W-well, people probably still think something's going on because you do spend time together a lot!"

"We're _friends_, that's all," he stated firmly. "Anyone else who thinks otherwise is obviously blind."

With that, the boy grabbed his book bag, which still held the snack Mimi had given him, stood up, and left the room. It was almost time for lunch anyway. When Koushirou was walking out of the room, his math teacher was entering it.

"Izumi-kun?"

"I need to be excused to the toilet, Konishi-sensei. I just can't wait any longer," the boy lied. With that, he left the petite-sized teacher, who looked after Koushirou confusedly. "Um, well, I know the clock hasn't chimed for lunch yet, but you all may go. It's only five minutes anyway, so enjoy your lunches everyone."

All of the students rushed out of the classroom to the lunchroom or some other part of the school, as it was allowed. Some students would eat out on the school grounds while some chose to eat on the school's rooftop. Koushirou headed to the lunchroom, just as most of his class did.

Odaiba Junior High was one of the few schools in the area that actually had a lunch room. The norm for most of the elementary and junior high schools without them was for some students of the classroom to head down to the cooking area, pick up the lunch contents, and serve it to their class, and the students just eat lunch in the classroom with their homeroom teachers.

Mimi sat down to lunch with her usual group of friends, but was unusually quiet. She kept staring over at a certain redheaded computer nerd, whose lunch seemed to consist of snack foods, still puzzled over the way he had acted the previous night. She didn't notice that he'd been slumbering for most of their math class, as she was trying to grasp the material herself, but the other reason was that her seat wasn't close to his. Koushirou was by the window in the last seat of the fifth row. Her seat was in the second row towards the other side of the classroom, as she was closer to the door. 'Koushirou, what's wrong with you? Why won't you confide in me or the others?'

"Mimi-chan, Mimi-chan!" called a girl seated across from her with shoulder-lengthened copper hair, with some of it pulled back into a ponytail while the rest hung loosely down on either side of her face.

"Huh, what?" She shook her head. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ayame-chan. I didn't mean to space out like that."

This girl, who of which Mimi was good friends with, was Shinohara Ayame. She, along with their other friends, Sasaki Yuuko, and Fujiwara Chinatsu, who were also in the Volleyball Club, were all eating lunch together.

Eating the rice of her bento meal prepared by her mother, a skinny girl with freckles, with the long, straight dark hair looked to the left of her curiously at Mimi. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm fine, Chinatsu-chan," she replied distantly, as she stared down at the lunch she'd prepared earlier that morning. She was sleepy and tired as well, but due to here natural ability to be energetic, it had gone unnoticed by those around her. She came across as her usual self.

"Or should we say some_one_," teased Mimi's curvy, auburn-haired friend, who was seated next to Ayame, Yuuko.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"I saw you," the girl continued on, slyly smirking. "You were staring."

"I was _not_ staring at anyone!"

"Yes you were," Ayame vouched. "You were staring over in the direction of Koushirou-kun."

Koushirou was sitting a few tables away, eating lunch by himself today, by the looks of it. He didn't always eat by himself, but at times, he seemed to enjoy the time alone. Mimi had offered for him to sit with her and her friends many times, but he would seldom take her up on the offer, or anyone else, unless they were computer club members, but if someone offered to sit with him, he never refused the person.

"Mi-chan likes Izumi-kun, Mi-chan likes Izumi-kun," Yuuko sang.

"Be quiet!" Mimi hissed, her face going pink. "I do _not_ like him! He's just a friend!"

"Why were you staring over at him just now?" Chinatsu sensibly asked. Compared to Ayame and Yuuko, Chinatsu was definitely the most serious, and levelheaded of the three.

Putting her mocking nature aside, which was a rarity with the girl, Yuuko asked, "Is there anything wrong with him?"

"To be honest, I don't know. He's been acting a bit differently lately."

"No offense, but I've always found him a little weird."

"Ayame-chan, how could you say that? He's not weird," Mimi said in defense of her childhood friend. "He's just quiet, and at times, he does come across as not being social, but that's not fully true." Mimi sighed in thought. 'I feel that it's just hard for him to get close to anyone or to let anyone get close to him I've noticed. I wonder why he's like that, though...'

Before either of the girls could respond, the four of them heard someone call out, "Hey, Mimi-chan!"

Ayame laughed. "Oh no, here comes Mimi's Fan Club."

"Seki-kun and his cousin, Yuuji-kun," Yuuko identified.

"Yes, and of _course_ her _biggest_ admirers, Takamatsu-kun of 2-C, my class, and Hashimoto-kun of 2-A," Chinatsu added on. "Takamatsu-kun is in the Drama Club, and Hashimoto-kun is in the Shougi Club and even more surprisingly the Judo Club. It's almost hard to believe that he takes Judo since he's so small, short, and timid-looking. He's even won Judo tournaments."

"Lucky," Yuuko cried in jealousy. "I wish I had a fan club dedicated to me and every boy in school enamored with my charm and beauty!"

"Charm?" laughed Chinatsu.

Yuuko shot Chinatsu a look. "Quiet you!"

"Hello Seki-kun, Yuuji-kun, Misao-kun, Ukyo-kun," Mimi greeted politely.

"Why not join us," Ayame sarcastically offered.

All four boys sat down at the table, trying to get close to Mimi. Seki managed to sit next to her. The other boys, dejectedly, sat across the table beside Yuuko and Chinatsu. The four of them talked over one another to try and get the girl's attention, but she ignored them while glancing over at Koushirou still. She was still anxious to find out what was bothering him, and helping in any way possible, but how could she help him if he wouldn't allow himself to be helped…and why did she feel so compelled to help him in the first place? She wasn't sure and was unable to answer her own question. She glanced back over at him.

'He's leaving. I wonder where he's going.'

The tall, round-faced Misao called to Mimi. By looking at him, people would've mistaken him for a bully, due to his size, but he was generally pretty nice. "Mimi-chan?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry," she replied quickly. "I think I'm going to cut my lunch hour short. I'll see you all back in class." Mimi turned her attention to the shiny, jet-black-haired boy. "Yuuji-kun, do you have any idea what was wrong with Koushirou right before lunch?"

"No, he just slept through most of it."

"Wow, Izumi-kun was asleep?" Chinatsu asked in surprise.

"Yeah. He said it was because he was out late because of karaoke!" Yuuji cut Mimi a look. She didn't say anything.

"Wow, I didn't know Koushirou-kun liked karaoke," said Ayame. 'I didn't think he'd actually go.'

"To think you know a guy," Yuuko laughed.

'Strange, that does _not_ sound like Koushirou, unless he got home later than I realized, and he didn't get much sleep because of me! Oh…but he's still not the type to sleep during classes either. He even stays awake during the _boring_ ones, like science.' She returned the lid to her lunch container, with her half-eaten lunch, and tied her pink, flowery bento cover around it. "Well, everyone, I'm going to go now. I'll see you later." Mimi rose from her seat, and rushed off, hoping to catch up with Koushirou.

The shougi-loving boy with the straight shoulder-lengthened light-brown hair stared after Mimi, and then asked the others, "What's wrong with Mimi-san?" Ukyo was one of the few "Mimi Fanboys", as Yuuko called them, who didn't seem as overbearing, or as annoying, as the other three dominant members of the club. There were more, but they were the main ones who didn't mind publicly displaying their affections for the girl. The others were much too shy, and were the ones to leave love-letters in her locker constantly.

"Something about Izumi-kun is bothering her," Yuuko told him simply, returning to her meal. She, just like Ayame, bought lunch today, and she wanted to hurry and eat her soba before it got cold.

"Eh? Izumi?"

"Izumi Koushirou-kun, who is in class 2-B and also head of the Computer Club," Chinatsu informed him.

"Wait, you mean that really quiet guy?" asked Misao in surprise.

Ayame nodded. "Yeah, she's concerned about him."

Unable to remain quiet any longer, Yuuji started to cry again. "She's always hanging out with Izumi! How can one of the most popular girls in school spend time with someone like him? There really isn't anything wrong with Izumi," Yuuji added in, even though he didn't want to admit it, "but seems like they'd be from two separate worlds! Mimi-chan is outgoing and social, and Izumi is, well, not!" He stood up and spoke louder. "She even went out with him for karaoke last night _and_ she made him homemade snacks!"

"It's not like it was just Mimi-chan and Koushirou-kun," Ayame muttered in embarrassment. "Now sit down and be quiet!"

"Yeah, and Mimi-chan makes snacks for people all the time, even us," Chinatsu added on, while Yuuji retook his seat.

"She keeps turning down dates with me!" cried Seki.

Yuuko crossed her arms. "I _wonder_ why," she responded in sarcasm.

"Oh shut up!" Seki glared at Yuuko.

Yuuko sighed. "You guys are just too persistent."

"Persistent?" asked Misao.

"Or maybe neither of you is her type."

"Fujiwara-san," began Ukyo, "how would you all know?"

"We _are_ her best friends you know," Yuuko told them smugly. "Of _course_ we'd know of these things."

Seki's look grew to that of a worried one. "Are you saying that _Izumi_ is her type/"

"We didn't say that," Yuuko smirked.

"Tell us!" Yuuji demanded. "Tell us what she likes in a boy!"

"Hmm, I don't know if we should…" Ayame began cruelly.

All four boys rose from their seats and bowed deeply. "Onegai shimasu!"

Everyone in the lunchroom looked at the four, curious as to why they were bowing. "Um...let me discuss this over with my friends here," Ayame told the four. She motioned for Chinatsu to join their side of the table. "Huddle!" Chinatsu kneeled in front of the two girls, while Yuuko and Ayame remained seated.

"So, what do you guys say?" Yuuko asked in a whisper. "Should we have fun with these four idiots?"

"Exactly what I was thinking!" Ayame giggled.

"Sure, why not. It's not like we can tell them the truth anyway," Chinatsu pointed out. "Even _we_ don't know what Mimi-chan truly likes in a guy. She's never really shown interest in any particular one openly."

"Okay, let's make stuff up to make them all look silly. Since they're head members of the Mimi Fan Club, making them look stupid will be a blast!" Yuuko said.

"But what should we say?" asked Chinatsu.

"We should make up stuff based on her 'Summer Camp Friends', or whatever it was she called them," Ayame suggested.

"One time I think I overheard her say something about them being the Chosen Children Club," Yuuko said. "You know, I think she said Digidestined one time too."

"Why does she call it that anyway?" asked Chinatsu.

Both girls shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, she never did say. Koushirou-kun just happens to be one of them, which is probably why he went along with her last night for karaoke. It was a get together for her and her 'Summer Camp Friends'," Ayame explained.

"I can't _believe_ Mi-chan is friends with Ishida-senpai of the Teenage Wolves! She is _so_ lucky, and he is _so_ hot!"

"Yuuko-chan, we'll continue are daily conversation about cute boys later. Now, we're all set, right?" asked Ayame. The other two nodded. "Okay! Break everyone!"

"Well?" Seki eagerly asked.

"Sit down first," Chinatsu told them while moving her lunch to Ayame and Yuuko's side of the table.

The four boys sat across from the three girls. "Okay, now we'll tell you what Mimi-chan likes, but don't let on that you guys know," Ayame told them discreetly.

"And if you choose to do this, you _have_ to do it at the upcoming party," Yuuko added.

Ayame nodded. "Yeah, it'll impress Mimi-chan most if you do it there."

"We promise we will!" Misao said. "Just _tell_ us!"

"Well, first, you have to be able to play the…um…autoharp!" Chinatsu told them, while trying not to laugh.

"I can play the violin," Ukyo said. "I'm sure the autoharp won't be that much of the challenge. I'm sure I can learn at least one song by then."

"While standing on your head!" Chinatsu added on quickly.

"_Eh_!" all four boys exclaimed over the outrageous act.

"And you have to wear blue goggles as an accessory, and they _have_ to be the round kind, not the boring square kind. You must also have big hair!" Yuuko smiled evilly. "Mi-chan loves that."

"And she likes boys who wear glasses who look very intellectual and carry around laptop computers constantly," Ayame continued. The four gave them looks of skepticism. "Hey, you asked and that's what she likes. She likes the unique types."

"I bet I'll get Mimi-chan to like me before any of _you_ guys!" Yuuji challenged.

"As leader, she'll definitely like _me_ best!" Misao told the shorter boy.

"You're _both_ delusional, she'll definitely fall for me," Seki insisted smugly.

"Girls, I think our work here is done," Chinatsu told her companions. "Let's go find someplace quieter to eat our lunch."

"Sure thing," Ayame said, picking up her tray.

"They are _so_ pathetic," Chinatsu said while shaking her head.

"But fun," Ayame pointed out.

"True."

Yuuko giggled. "I can't _wait_ to see them at the party. This is going to be hi_larious_!"

The three girls stood, leaving the four bickering boys behind, who had been completely oblivious to the girls' conversation…

* * *

Mimi wandered around the hallway, passing by many students (some of which were admirers of her) in search of Koushirou. He was faster than even she realized and decided to drop by her class first to put her lunch aside, and then go back in pursuit of him. She thought for a moment, and figured that if Koushirou was anyplace, aside from a place like the toilet, it would either be their classroom or either the computer lab. She went with the latter, as she didn't see him when dropping off her lunch. Once arriving, she peaked through the door. The room was, surprisingly, empty, 'cept for Koushirou, who was sitting at one of the computers, his back to the door. She couldn't fully tell what he was doing, but to her, it almost looked as if he could have been in deep concentration over something. Seeing him like that, she wasn't sure if she should approach him or not, and was actually starting to wonder if she was becoming a burden to him, always pestering him for information that he wasn't fully comfortable giving…information about himself.

For as long as she had actually been friends with him, Koushirou wasn't known to show emotion much aside from the obvious ones, like annoyance, amuse, and happiness, but he usually didn't seem to show or share what he was _truly_ feeling if something was bothering him. Figuring him out was a great mystery to her and she figured that even a great detective like Sherlock Holmes would probably have had a difficult time getting Koushirou to fully open up. It had been only recently, since she returned to Odaiba, that she had become determined to get him to open up more. At times, she still felt that she didn't truly _know_ Koushirou like she did her other friends and it inexplicably bothered her.

'Do I approach him or do I just stand out here looking silly?' She shook her head, a look of determination on her young face. 'Come on Mimi! Fight! You _have_ to face him!'

* * *

'Wow, Mimi-san is a great cook! I must definitely thank her for these.' the boy thought, downing the last of the ohagi. He _did_ want to leave the lunch room to think, but he mainly wanted to eat Mimi's treats without any questions being asked of him, especially since Yuuji knew about it somehow. He stared at the computer screen, as he'd been surfing the net. He then gave off a heavy sigh as he looked at the web page he'd stopped on. 'What should I do? I know what I have to do, and what I am _going_ to do, but what about Mimi-san? She's probably going to want to know what's going on. I'm definitely going to Hikarigaoka tomorrow! It's the only way I can find out more about my real parents as well as myself.'

It took Mimi a little while longer, but she finally got the nerve to enter the room. She opened the sliding door and slowly walked in. Hearing the faint footsteps, Koushirou asked in alarm, "Who's there?" He definitely didn't want to get in trouble for eating in the computer lab, which had just recently become strictly forbidden.

"H-hey there," the girl greeted nervously with a warm smile. He glanced back. "It's just me."

'I've never seen a girl who can always manage to smile. It's almost like she doesn't have a care in the world sometimes, but I guess it's just in her nature.' He turned his chair around to face her. "Hi there Mimi-san. You startled me." In some ways, Koushirou had been inadvertently avoiding the girl. He still felt bad for causing her distress the previous night and wasn't fully ready to face her yet.

"I'm sorry. I saw you in the lunchroom, and then you just suddenly l-left, and I was wondering what was wrong, since it kind of looked like something was bothering you. Is it about our project?"

The main bother was that he was anxious to eat that ohagi since he'd only had a can of juice and a couple of snacks from the vending machine for his "lunch", which is why he rushed off. He had a little bit of spare change in his pocket, and didn't want to take out the money his father had given him and didn't feel like buying a lunch, as he wasn't in the mood for soba. He stood up and walked over to her. "Um…Mimi-san…"

"Y-yes?" She was growing exuberant, like a child about to open up a Christmas gift, but was still inexplicably nervous and her current, speedy rhythmic heartbeat confirmed it. 'Could he _finally_ be confiding in me? Is he _finally_ going to tell me what's bothering him so that we can work on it together?'

"Well, first and foremost, I must get this out to you." The boy bowed deeply to her. She stared down at him in pure bewilderment.

"K-Koushirou?"

"Mimi-san, I want to apologize for my appalling behavior last night. I probably came across as very rude, and because of that, I caused you a lot of anguish." He stood upright again. Mimi was too stunned to reply at how formal the boy was being with her _still_ after all these years. "Please forgive me."

"Erm…y-yeah, you're forgiven. You were in a hurry. No hard feelings." That's what she had to keep telling herself after he'd left. 'Darn you! I want to know a _real_ secret about you!'

He gave her a half smile. Even though she didn't hear what she wanted to, seeing his smile made her happy for some reason. "Also, Mimi-san, I really appreciate the ohagi you prepared." He walked back over to the computer he had been sitting at, and picked up the empty tin. "This is another reason why I came in here. I wanted to eat in peace. It was very good, as always. Thank you very much for preparing these for me."

'Is he trying to butter me up?' He handed her the tin. "Thank you…"

"Now, there's also something else I must share with you, as I promised you I would yesterday."

'YES!' the girl screamed in her head.

"We have been paired up for this assignment, but I, unfortunately, have to do a little bit of research first."

"Um, okay, but what kind of research do you have to do? It's just a project about your family. What else is there to research that you don't already know about your own family?"

"You'll see. As I said, I already promised you that I would share everything with you, but not right now."

"Yeah…I…see…"

He turned his back to her and retook his seat while closing out the browser window, which had the adoption agency's webpage up. Even though he'd apologized, which seemed to let everything else come out a bit easier and naturally, he felt the need to hesitate again. "If-if you _really_ want to know what's going on then you can come along to help me with my research tomorrow."

"Wait, go with you tomorrow? Go with you where?"

In a voice barely above that of a whisper, Koushirou murmured, "Hikarigaoka."

"Wait, what?"

"Hi-Hikarigaoka..."

"Hikari_ga_oka? Why do we have to go there?"

"You'll see…I promised to tell you everything…," he repeated somberly as he stood up, heading towards the door, "…since, for the most part, I don't have much of a choice." He stopped in front of the lab's door and stared upwards. "It's been bothering me for a while, and it would make me feel better to tell this…to get this information about myself off of my chest and to test a theory, in a way..." He grabbed the door's handle. 'It's a bit embarrassing, but would Mimi-san think of me as strange or unworthy to be her friend because of it? Would anyone?'

Still confused, the girl raised an eyebrow up at him. "Okay, whatever you say, but _why_ do we have to go all the way to Nerima?"

"Because the answers I'm seeking can only be found there…about who I _really_ am…" Mimi was more lost than ever now. All she could do was nod. "Our break is almost over, so we should probably head back before we're considered late. We wouldn't want to burden our classmates, especially with only one class left to go."

"Um...yeah…r-right," she managed to get out. She felt a headache coming on.

Mimi wasn't sure if she'd made any progress with Koushirou or not. It seemed that he was starting to open up, but then quickly withdrew, as he was still acting mysterious about what was wrong with him or why such a simple assignment was causing his edginess. The two walked back to class for history, but were late. The clock chimed right when they reached the door. Mr. Ishidzuka let them slide since it was their first time ever being late from something like lunch, and Koushirou used the excuse that the both of them had been brainstorming on how to present their project. Mr. Ishidzuka was really glad that Koushirou was getting into his work. Mimi just smiled weakly and went along with everything Koushirou had said.

After being dismissed, the students prepared for the mandatory school cleaning. Part of their class was assigned the teacher's room for that week, while the rest were responsible for their classroom and other parts of the school. Once done, everyone went back to their assigned areas, which included Mimi and Koushirou heading back to their seats, Koushirou back to his seat near the back row, and Mimi's seat a bit in the middle row. Her seat was right in between Yuuko and Ayame.

When Ishidzuka started lecturing, the two girls started drilling Mimi, since they didn't have much of an opportunity during their cleaning time due to the fact that the three girls were assigned different cleaning groups.

"Mi-chan," whispered Yuuko, "what happened?"

"What do you mean?" asked Mimi.

"What happened with Koushirou-kun," Ayame asked from her left.

"Did you say that you're madly in love with him?" Yuuko teased.

"Wh-what!" Mimi's face turned a slight shade of red due to the accusation. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Why on _earth_ would you think something like that?"

"Mi-chan, you're blushing, besides, you worry about him _way_ too much, so you _must_ be in love with him!"

Mimi found herself smiling. She knew how Yuuko had this tendency of blowing things out of proportion as well as exaggerating things. "Well, I guess I can't hide anything from the two of you."

"What do you mean?" asked Ayame.

"I _do_ love Koushirou. I love him a lot!"

The two girls' jaws dropped. "What!"

"I love him just like I love you two."

"Wh-what?" asked Yuuko, eyeing the girl suspiciously. 'Is she really into that type of thing?'

"I don't understand."

"I love him just like I love you two," she smiled sweetly. "He's my good friend; I love _all_ of my friends."

The two nearly fell from their seats from the response, but it was enough of a distraction to garner the attention of the young man currently giving a lecture on the Feudal Era of Japan. "Shinohara-san, Sasaki-san!"

The two stood up quickly. "Yes sir?"

"Is there anything wrong?"

"No sir," the two responded.

"Good, now pay attention. This material is going to be on your upcoming test."

"Yes Ishidzuka-sensei."

Mimi lightly laughed as the two returned to their seats. Yuuko gave Mimi a disapproving look. "That was a mean trick!"

"But it's the truth; I _do_ love all of my friends."

The day continued to drag on. Mimi, and most of the other students, wished that their school didn't meet on Saturdays for a full day, like other schools in the area, but since it was the last day of the week, and no club meetings, most were glad to head home to relax. While at her shoe-sized locker, Mimi ran into both Sora and Miyako.

"Mimi-chan, I'm _so_ glad we found you!"

"How come?" the girl asked while changing out of her school shoes.

"Sora-san is having a party tomorrow and she's invited _every_one! Since you missed your club meet earlier this week, we weren't sure if you had gotten the invite or not and it just hit the both of us that you never did mention anything about it when we went out for karaoke."

She slipped her school shoes into her locker, ignoring the many love-letters sitting within it. "Is it a celebration just for us, or is it one for everyone?"

"It's a combination of the both," Sora explained. "I guess you could call it an end of year celebration. I know it's not the norm, but I figured, why not! I've invited everyone, and that involves the younger ones too: Iori-kun, Ichijouji-kun, Hikari-chan, Takeru-kun, and Daisuke. Taichi was supposed to pass it on to Hikari-chan and she was supposed to pass it on to the rest. Miyako-chan informed both Iori-kun and Takeru-kun since they all live in the same building. I also mentioned that they could invite anyone they wanted from their class or their clubs."

"So, what are you going to wear and when are you going to get there?"

"Miyako-chan, why do you want to know what I'll be wearing?"

"So I can try to find something that's nearly as nice as your outfit of course!"

Mimi laughed. 'Same old Miyako,' she thought.

"The party will start tomorrow at 13:00 (1:00) and will end at 19:00 (7:00)!"

"Wait, how long have you had this planned out? Where will it be?"

"I've been planning it for about a month now, with some help from Taichi, but things weren't finalized until last week. My father rented out the *Ageha Dance Club! He made very good sales with his latest book, and asked if I wanted anything special. Since I'm heading off to high school soon, I asked for a party where I could invite many people. Since the Ageha Dance Club is closed during the day, we can have it for the entire afternoon, and of course, you know that the bar will be closed to us," she laughed. "I know that the location is kind of out there, but at least we'll still be in Tokyo and it's fast to get there if on the Rinkai line. You'd just have to transfer one time and get off at Shin-Kiba Station and the ride, in all, is only about 15 minutes."

"Wow! I've heard about that place from Yuuko-chan! She always talks about her older cousin hanging out there almost every weekend, especially in the summer. The place is still pretty new. Wait, does Koushirou-kun know about the party?"

"Yeah, Taichi said he mentioned it to him and according to him, Koushirou-kun seemed really interested in going."

"So, are you going to get there early?"

"Well, I'm not too sure if I'll be able to go…"

"What do you mean you might not be able to go!" Miyako asked in shock. "A party isn't a party without you!"

She fidgeted a little as the three exited the school. "I-I can't."

"But why?" asked Sora. "I can't have a party without one of my best friends there."

"It's because I have to go to Hikarigaoka tomorrow," she sighed.

"You have to go all the way out to Nerima!" Mimi nodded. "Oneesama…what's happening there? Why do you have to go there?"

"I…promised to go there with Koushirou-kun tomorrow."

"That doesn't make any sense, though! Why does Izumi-senpai have to go there? Why do _you_ feel obligated to go with him?"

"It's for our assignment," she answered shortly.

"You mean the history project that Koushirou-kun lied about?"

She nodded. "He also told me, 'the answers I'm seeking can only be found there…about who I _really_ am', when I asked him why he had to go there."

"That doesn't make any sense. What kind of a project are you and Koushirou-kun working on again?"

"We have to pretty much do a family history project. I was excused from the assignment since my parents aren't here, even though I could've just gotten information from my aunt and work with that. Anyway, as a way to make up for it, Ishidzuka-sensei asked if I could work with him. I agreed to it."

"I don't know Mimi-chan. Going all the way to the Nerima ward to find answers seems a bit extreme. Why doesn't he just talk with Mr. and Mrs. Izumi to get the bit of extra information he needs, instead of making a day-trip out of it? It'll save up on time."

"I don't know, but I'm still a bit worried about him, or probably just curious. He did promise to tell me everything if I went along."

"Ahh," Miyako gave Mimi a coy smile, "so _that's_ why you're going, to figure out his secret!"

"I wonder what type of a secret Koushirou-kun is keeping."

"You know, maybe you could talk Izumi-senpai out of going to Hikarigaoka tomorrow and then that way, both of you can come to the party. Maybe you guys can postpone your trip."

"I don't think he'd go for something like that, especially since this assignment is due this upcoming Friday. Tomorrow would be our last full free day to work on it or to do any out of town traveling."

"Well, I guess it just can't be helped. It's a shame that neither one of you will be coming to my party, though. We'll miss you."

Miyako frowned, which Mimi noticed. "Miyako-chan, what's wrong?"

"I guess I'm feeling a bit left out. I'm just wondering why he isn't really saying anything to me. I always felt that I was a good friend too."

"It could be due to the fact that Koushirou-kun talks with and sees Mimi-chan more now compared to you. Both share all of the same classes. You two only have the Computer Club."

"That is a good point, but it still wouldn't hurt for him to open up his mobile phone and call me or even send an e-mail. He does have a D-Terminal he could use too."

"He's probably only doing this anyway since we're paired up for this assignment." The three girls came to an intersection. "Well, this is where we split up. I'll see you guys later, and don't worry; I'll try to find a way for us to come to your party."

"That'd be great, Mimi-chan! I hope both you and Koushirou-kun can make it."

"See, told you she'd try to go," Miyako laughed.

With that, the girls split ways, and Mimi continued her walk home. She had quite a few things to get together if she wanted to go to Sora's party…

Author's Note 

Note 1: Ms. Konishi. This isn't original. Konishi Hiroko just happens to be Adventure Takeru's seiyuu (voice actress). His seiyuu (voice actor) for Adventure 02 was Yamamoto Taisuke, since he was older and all. Also, in Japan, the students don't change classes, the teachers do. Also, it's true that most elementary and junior high schools in Japan don't have cafeterias or lunch rooms. It'd probably be more commonly seen in high schools. Anyway, the students eat their lunches in the classroom with their homeroom teachers. After the meal, the students then clean up the classroom...maybe. As pointed out earlier, when a school has its cleaning time varies from school to school. Sometimes they do it after lunch, sometimes after school is over, maybe right before their final class, etc.

Also, a "bento" is a traditional Japanese lunch box. _Traditionally_, a bento is supposed to be packed by following that 4-3-2-1 pattern. Four parts rice, three parts meat or fish, two parts vegetable, and one part dessert or something pickled. Since Mimi's character is into cooking and preparing meals, I figured having her character putting together her own bento would suit the character.

Fic Chapter Changes

I didn't specify the amount of money Mr. Izumi gave to Koushirou originally. I let him give Koushirou such a large amount because of something that happens a few chapters from now.

I added in Koushirou dreaming of food, and mumbling about it in his sleep.

I pretty much specified how the girls were seated at the lunch table. With the way it was written originally, one probably would've gotten the impression that Mimi was on one side of the table by herself while her three friends were on the other side.

The personalities of Mimi and Koushirou's classmates are also a bit more distinguished and fleshed out compared to how they were originally. The boys have better physical descriptions and better background information. Ukyo is the level-headed one of the four and a bit more polite compared to Misao, Seki, and Yuuji, and hope that you noticed that I am trying to separate him from the other three in this regard. Yes he's a Mimi fan, but not on the level as the others are. I also gave some of the somewhat aggressive lines that Ukyo originally had, to either Misao or Yuuji, as I meant to convey this about Ukyo's character for the original version...it just didn't turn out that way.

As for the girls…I just came up with a full name for Chinatsu this time. Originally, I didn't have one since I wrote that she was in a different class from Yuuko, Ayame, and Mimi, and never had a teacher address her. I also changed Yuko to Yuuko.

The dialogue between Mimi and Koushirou in the computer lab was changed a bit, as I tossed in all the stuff where Koushirou was apologizing.

The set up in the classroom is a bit different than what's probably usually used.

Usually it's pretty much set up in the following fashion, for example, and of course T = Teacher, G = Girl, and B = Boy…

G B G B

G B G B

G B G B

G B G B

G B G B

T

I have it set up like this…

G G G G G

B B B B B

G G G G G

B B B B B

T

And this is where all the characters [Yuuji, Seki, Koushirou, Yuuko, Ayame, and Mimi] would've been sitting for my scenario….

B B B Y B K

G G G G G G

B B B B S B

Y M A G G G

B B B B B B

T

I only set it up this way so that Yuuko and Ayame wouldn't be stuck seated in front of Mimi as it would've been difficult to talk to her if seated in front of her. I also have Yuuji where he is as a reason to have him notice Koushirou's being asleep. If not in the same row, I doubt he would've even noticed.

I went into the Saturday school thing slightly. Depending on the school, it may have students attend Monday – Saturday. School on Saturdays usually consists of just a half day or just morning classes, to my knowledge. Not sure if it's true or not, but I heard that more schools are opting out of having Saturday schools, but there are a good amount of them that probably still do. Anyway, just showing another difference OJH has from other schools for the sake of this fic. lol

I added more information on the party Sora was throwing and changed its starting time from 2:00 to 1:00 and also gave it an "end-time", so to speak. I didn't originally. Anywho, no matter how you look at it though, realistically, I just couldn't see this happening, a party at a dance club of all places. For the record, though, the Ageha Dance Club is a real place. It's known for being one of the best places to go and the place is really big and has great entertainment which includes performers from all over (in other words, not just those from Japan). It opened in 2002. Originally for this, I had that it was held at the club that Raremon pretty much destroyed when Koushirou was attacked by PicoDevimon (DemiDevimon) in Adventure when his Digivice picked up a signal and went in search of the 8th Child. If I'm not mistaken, for the dub, they sorta cut the attack when PicoDevimon threw those syringes at him. I think they painted over them for the dub.


	8. 08  Preparing for Departure

Hi again everyone. Once again, I'm going to be really busy, so decided to put this up early again.

I really don't have much to say about this chapter. There are also hardly any changes from its original version. Like the title says, it's just showing what Koushirou is doing the night before leaving and what Mimi is doing to semi prepare. Call this another "filler chapter" like the karaoke one. Oh yes, I'm sure some of you have noticed my having Koushirou refer to the Izumis as "father" and "mother". Well, he's kind of formal with them originally and, as I mentioned earlier, in the original, he's very polite. Having him use "father" and "mother" seems to be the only thing equivalent to that.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 08: Preparing for Departure!

Koushirou slowly made his way home from school, alone, not that he fully minded. He had left school time the clock chimed, and rushed off before Mimi could catch him. He really was a bit down, and hated the fact that he was going to end up dragging Mimi along on this venture, and was tempted to leave her behind, but he knew better than to do that. He would've never heard the end of it if he had.

His long walk finally came to an end as he approached the apartment complex that he and his family lived in. After walking up the few flights of stairs, he opened up the door to his home, stepped out of his shoes, and put his book-bag in his room. He then left, and headed up the hall to see his mother watching television in the living room, sipping on what looked to be tea. "Tadaima," he greeted dully.

Mrs. Izumi hadn't heard the door open and close earlier, but after hearing the boy's, "tadaima", she hurried over to him. "Koushirou!"

She had a big smile on her face, one Koushirou was grateful to see, compared to how she was that morning. "Good afternoon, mother."

"I'm so glad that you're home!" She hugged the boy tightly. "I really wanted to apologize to you."

"Apologize? What for?" he asked after she'd let go.

She looked down at the floor, a sad look about her face. "I'm sorry for the way I acted towards you this morning." She looked back up at him. "It seems that I wasn't myself fully."

"Oh, that?" Koushirou forced on a smile, which his mother obviously didn't notice, as it seemed genuine to her. "That's okay. I just figured that you were tired. Everyone have his or her bad days."

The woman smiled in relief, which was Koushirou's main goal, to get her to smile again. "I'm so glad that you feel that way. How did I end up with such a wise son? Would you like a snack or anything?"

"S-sure," he answered vaguely. For once, a daily after-school snack wasn't on his mind.

"Okay, come on now." He followed his mother. "Right before you came in, I had just sat down to watch television after preparing a nice yummy snack for you. Have a seat."

Koushirou took a seat at the table, and sniffed the air. The aroma had kind of a fried, doughy scent to it. His stomach started growling. Mrs. Izumi returned with a plate of round, dumpling confections about the size of one's hand. She set it down in front of him along with a glass of his favorite, oolong tea. "Ta-da!" she said.

"Wow! Manjuu! Thank you, mother! And it's so fresh! I always thought this took a long time to prepare." At times like this, Koushirou was glad that he lived in an apartment with a decent oven, even though manjuu was a stove-top food.

"Now now, it didn't take that long. I'd planned on making it today anyway, so I started preparing yesterday by making sure I had all of the right ingredients. Enjoy!" She took a seat and grabbed one for herself. Noticing the time, Koushirou started to eat the manjuu faster. "Slow down, Koushirou."

"I'm sorry," he said after one big swallow. "I have to get ready for my trip tomorrow."

"_Your_ trip? Don't you mean _our _trip?"

"Our trip? What trip?"

"We were all going out tomorrow as a family."

"We were?"

"Yes. We all decided to go to the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. Your father and I know how much you like going there."

"Yeah, I really like the exhibits involving the robots and the technology. I've always been curious how the scientists manage to get the robots to function properly."

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"Yes, it did slip my mind, and I do apologize for that."

"Couldn't you cancel your trip just this once?" she asked him sweetly.

"I'm sorry mother. I really can't join you tomorrow. I have a very important errand to run." His mother looked a bit forlorn, and went back to her drink. "I'm sorry, I really am, but, um…" he began. 'Come on Koushirou, think think think…'

"What do you have to do?"

"Well, um…like I was saying…I promised Mimi-san that-"

The woman lifted her head and gave the boy a proud smile. "Don't say another word. I understand completely."

"You do?"

"I was young once too, you know."

"So you don't mind my _not_ joining you and father tomorrow?"

"No, I don't mind, and I'm sure your father will understand it too."

After finishing the last of the manjuu, Koushirou stood up and thanked his mother once again. He still couldn't help but scratch his head over his mother's sudden change of heart, but decided to dismiss it and head off to his room to prepare himself for tomorrow.

Nearly an hour later, a man with a briefcase in hand entered the Izumi home. "Tadaima," he called in a tired voice.

The woman went to greet him. "Hi there! How as your day?" she asked while hugging him.

"It was pretty hectic today," he told her with a small laugh. "We shall never spend our time staying up that late again."

"Yeah. What made your day so hectic?" the woman asked, heading back to the kitchen.

He followed behind her. "Spending the majority of my time worrying about _you_," he joked.

"Masami-san, I told you not to worry about me."

"I know," he said while sniffing the air. "Wow, something smells nice. What's for dinner?"

"Your favorite, *nikujaga, but I have some bad news and some good news for you."

"Uh-oh, did Koushirou's teacher call again?" She shook her head, smiling slightly, as if she were withholding vital information. "He didn't accidentally crash one of the school's computer lab computers again, did he?"

"Nope."

"Then what's the problem, and why do you have that smile on your face?"

"He won't be coming with us to the museum tomorrow."

"Wow, I was really looking forward to having the day off to spend it with you two."

"Same here, but I guess we can plan a trip for next Sunday, like maybe an onsen trip."

"You've been talking about that for a while, and I'm going to assume you want to go to the Odaiba Onsen Monogatari, right?" She nodded as he leaned up against the counter. "That'd be a nice, relaxing trip. That aside, it's not often we spend time together like we did when Koushirou was younger. Did he mention why he can't spend it with us tomorrow?"

"He said something about taking a trip, and that's the good news."

"A trip?" She nodded. "And you're okay with this?"

"Yeah."

'And yet, she nearly chewed my head off for giving Koushirou lunch money.' He gave his wife a confused look. "I don't find anything 'good' about this news yet."

"Our little Koushirou is growing up," she said in excitement.

Mr. Izumi, at this particular point, was trying to sneak a peak at the stew Mrs. Izumi had prepared. "I still don't understand where you're going with this."

"_You're_ going to be out of this kitchen if you keep trying to sneak tastes," the woman warned playfully.

"Okay, okay," the man said backing off while watching his wife scoop rice from the rice cooker and putting it into bowls.

"Anyway, he's taking a trip tomorrow with Mimi-chan!"

"Mimi?"

"Yeah, isn't that _great_!"

"I guess it is," he muttered, not really getting what the big deal was.

"Don't you _get_ it? Our young Koushirou has finally settled on a girlfriend! He is going to be spending the day with a charming girl he's known for a long time. That _must_ mean something, _especially_ since tomorrow is March 14."

"Maybe you're right, but what if it's something else?"

"_Hello_! March 14!"

"I know, I know, but I'm still just saying…what if it's something else." The man crossed his arms, realizing that he had forgotten that Sunday was March 14.

"Well, given the day, I don't know what else it _could_ be."

'Not if Mimi invited Koushirou out someplace and not the other way around.' He cleared his throat. "You really seem sure of yourself. Where exactly is he going?"

"Well, um…I…sorta didn't ask."

"Yoshie…"

"I was so happy when he mentioned it, I forgot to ask."

"Well, I guess we'll have to get that information out of him for dinner," he replied sneakily.

"Of course, which is why I prepared another treat for him after he went to his room. Usually, after school, once he goes to his room, he doesn't leave it until dinner time. The treat I prepared is an absolute favorite and strange dessert snack for him. That should make it even easier for us to weasel that information from out of him."

After everything was ready, Mrs. Izumi set the table with a bowl of rice, a bowl of miso soup, and the stew while Mr. Izumi went to get Koushirou. The teen walked slowly to the table and took his seat. The boy did his quick, obligatory prayer, and started digging into the meal. He was so busy eating, that he didn't notice his parents inquiringly staring at him. They just couldn't see how a boy his size could eat so fast or so much.

"So," Mr. Izumi started after swallowing down some of his steamed white rice, "your mother told me that you won't be able to join us for our family outing tomorrow."

"Nope," he answered plainly as he slurped down the miso soup. He'd already finished off the rice, and he was now starting to devour the stew. "I have something to do tomorrow, and I'm unable to reschedule it."

"I see," Mrs. Izumi responded simply.

"So, where will you be going tomorrow?"

"You already mentioned something about spending the day with Mimi-chan."

'I can't tell them that I'm going to Hikarigaoka. They'll probably ask a bunch of questions that I really don't want to have to answer.' Mrs. Izumi smiled knowingly, and headed to the kitchen. Mr. Izumi called to Koushirou. "Oh, I'm sorry, father," he hastily apologized, "did you say something?"

Before Mr. Izumi could respond, Mrs. Izumi walked back to the table, holding a small bowl. She set it down in front of Koushirou. "Here, have some. It's one of your favorites, sweet onigiri with an avocado apple-cinnamon honey paste filling."

Koushirou's eyes lit up and started to eat the marvelous dessert treat. Mr. Izumi wrinkled his nose over the unusual combination. He just couldn't understand the tastes Koushirou had when it came to foods. They were just downright strange. Koushirou thanked his mother as he hurried through his dinner. Once done, he started to stuff his face with the onigri. "Oh, this is _so_ good! Thank you mother!"

"Anyway, back to what I was asking earlier. Where were you planning on going tomorrow?"

"Well, I…" He took a bite out of another one. His mother had made 10 of them. 'What should I tell them?'

"Koushirou, don't eat so fast," warned Mrs. Izumi, "you might give yourself indigestion or either a bad stomachache."

The boy slowed down and nodded, as he was still partially stalling to come up with something plausible. "Well, we're all going to head over to the Yagami home to study for our upcoming tests," the boy blurted out. After saying that, though, he mentally slapped himself as Sora's party came to mind, and how he could've just gone along with that.

"Oh, so it's pretty much a study date?"

"Y-yes, even though Taichi-san, Yamato-san, and Sora-san have already taken their entrance exams. Those three are going to help us underclassmen."

Mrs. Izumi looked disappointed. "Well, school is important, and we wouldn't want to get in the way of your lessons."

"What time are you heading out tomorrow?"

"First thing. We have quite a bit of material to go over, especially the English that's usually on the entrance exams. I know we have a whole year, but it's never too soon to start preparing for something as strenuous as that, so Jou-san says."

"School sure seems more difficult compared to when we were young," Mrs. Izumi pointed out.

"Yes, it does, but with each generation, the material becomes more challenging."

Koushirou gulped down another one of the rice balls, and left three in the bowl. All of a sudden, he didn't feel hungry anymore. He knew it was rude to leave his meal unfinished, well he always felt that way anyway, but he just couldn't bear it. "May I please be excused?"

"Is something wrong?"

"No mother, I'm fine. I'm just…full."

"Well, sure, okay. You can go if you'd like."

With that settled, the boy rose up from his seat and headed to his room, holding his now, incredibly nervous stomach. He had _lied_ to his parents. His guilt had ruined his appetite. For the most part, he had never lied to them before…not to this extent, and it really bothered him. He tried his best to shake off the feeling, and hopped onto the computer to send an e-mail to Mimi, letting her know where to meet him in the morning.

"I guess you were jumping to conclusions," Mr. Izumi said after Koushirou had left, while finishing up his meal.

"I guess so. I was just _so_ sure that he and Mimi-chan were going to have a romantic day together."

"I guess Koushirou isn't ready for a girlfriend yet due to how serious he is about his school work," the man plainly stated. He finished his meal. "Yoshie, as usual, this was delicious."

"Thank you." Mrs. Izumi was almost done with her meal too. When she finished, she cleared the table, putting the remaining onigiri into a container for the next day for Koushirou to eat, and took all the dishes to the sink for washing.

Mr. Izumi joined her. "I'll help you."

"Thank you."

Mrs. Izumi was grateful for her husband. He wasn't the stereotypical one, and actually _helped_ her on occasion whenever he was home early, but she felt he was _really_ being more helpful because of her pregnancy. While washing the dishes, she looked to be deep in thought. Mr. Izumi waved his hand in front of her face. "Hey, is something wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I don't get it." She handed the clean dish to her husband to dry. "I _just_ don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"I just can't help but feel that Koushirou's keeping something from us. I'm also not sure if he was telling the truth about spending his time over at the Yagami place tomorrow to study."

"I'm surprised at you! Why would he lie about something like that? Koushirou isn't the type to lie."

"I don't like this feeling, but I can't help it. It's the way he was talking when he first got home. He said something about a promise and it has something to do with Mimi-chan. Why is a promise about a study date important? The way he was talking made it sound as if it was something important, and he also sounded very serious about it."

"Well, I feel you're making a big deal out of nothing."

"Maybe I am," she sighed. "Maybe I feel as if I'm being shut out of his life more and more everyday and I'm just desperately trying to find my way back in. I know he isn't my little boy anymore, but I sometimes wish that he still was. It's like I want him to grow up to become a respectful, responsible adult, but at the same time, I want him to remain the little boy we grew to know and love, forever…"

"I'm sure all parents have those types of moments."

"I guess you're right," the woman murmured as she scrubbed out the last dish.

"Of course I am. It's probably very natural to feel this way. I'm sure at some point in all parents' lives they feel as if they have grown slightly apart from their teenage son or daughter as they have more friends and activities going on in their lives. The only thing that's unfortunate with us is that Koushirou started to grow slightly apart from us at a younger age." He dried the last dish and put it away. "Now, let's get out of this kitchen and watch some television to get your mind off of everything. I'm sure there's probably a nice drama on that you'd enjoy. You could definitely use the rest and relaxation."

"I'm actually growing a bit tired and I _am_ sleepy from the lack of sleep I got last night, as you know," she said with a knowing smile, "so I'm going to head in, but what really caused it was sorting through all those papers so that I could do the budgeting. Everything was out of place."

"That's odd."

"Yeah, but nothing to worry about. It took most of the morning to straighten all of it out and to reorganize it, but it's fine now." She yawned.

"Alright then." He gave her a kiss. "Good night, and have a nice rest."

"Good night…"

* * *

Over at the Nishimura household…

"Yes, that's right. There's a chance I might not make it, Chinatsu-chan," Mimi told her friend over the phone. She was currently sitting on her bed on the cordless. "Miyako-chan told you?" Mimi laughed. "No, I don't plan on missing the _entire_ party….Wait, Miyako-chan told you I might be going out of town tomorrow?...No, my aunt and uncle don't have anything planned, and I'm going to the Nerima ward to visit Hikarigaoka…..I was invited to go along, that's why I have to go….I know you want to know why I'm going, but I really can't tell you since I'm not entirely sure myself." Mimi laughed again over Chinatsu's dramatic crying. "Chinatsu-chan…that was terrible! Have you been getting lessons from Yuuko-chan?...Well, I could tell because she never sounds convincing when she fake cries either. Anyway, how come neither of you guys brought up the party to me?" Chinatsu went on to explain how she figured Mimi would've heard about it through "Sora-san" or "Taichi-senpai", and didn't think to bring it up.

Chinatsu truly adored Taichi a lot. She looked up to him and had a great respect for him. She pretty much idolized him for his athletic abilities and, at times, he had actually helped her prepare for a couple of her volleyball matches, and volleyball wasn't one of Taichi's areas of expertise.

"That's true. I _really_ wish I'd known about the party sooner, though, then I might would have turned down going to Hikarigaoka tomorrow…..I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I might do a little shopping while there….Yes, you are _so_ right! That's our motto! If the trip is going to be a downer, then definitely find a way to make the best of it….Okay, I'll talk to you later….You, Ayame-chan, and Yuuko-chan are going to Venus Fort to look for boys?...Oh, I'm sorry, Ayame-chan and _Yuuko_-chan are. You're only slightly less boy-crazy than them." She laughed again. "Have fun. Sorry I can't come with you to help Ayame-chan pick out something new to wear for the party since I am, apparently, your fashion consultant…..I'm babysitting my cousins. My aunt and uncle decided to go out for a while since he was able to get home from work early tonight….Alright, talk to you later. I have to check on Ton since it sounds like he's crying."

Mimi put the phone back on the hook, and went to tend to her younger cousin. It turned out that the boy had wanted something to eat. After she fed and bathed him, she sat him down in the living room to play with his toys while she sat down on the couch to look through a fashion magazine. "Hmm, which should I get next once I have the extra money…oh, that skirt looks kind of nice, and it's the latest fashion!" She circled it with her pen. "I wouldn't mind wearing something like this to the party tomorrow….oh, and that blouse would go _perfectly_ with it!"

"Neechan!"

Mimi looked up from her magazine to see an energetic Isako stop in front of her. "Oh, Isako-chan, I see you're finally finished watching television."

The girl slumped down on the couch beside Mimi and frowned. "What's the matter?"

"I'm bored!" she complained with a whine. "Can't your friends come over and play?"

"I don't think they'll be able to come over just to play with you on such short notice," she logically told the girl.

"I like your friends. They're fun! I want to be just like you and them when I grow up!"

"They're probably all hanging out just like most everyone else since we're going on our last week of school. Why don't you play with your brother?"

"Ton is boring! He's just a baby!"

"You have to _show_ him how to have fun," Mimi said while trying her best to humor the girl.

"But babies can't learn how to have fun."

"Why do you say that? Of course they can learn how to have fun."

"No they can't!" the girl insisted. "Babies aren't as smart as us big kids." Mimi could only sigh, and give up. "Neechan, what are you doing?"

"I'm looking through a fashion magazine."

"Ooh! I always like your clothes, neechan! They're always really pretty!"

"Thank you. I'm trying to get some ideas on an outfit for the dance our school has just started sponsoring for the third year students, and since I'm going to be a third year student soon, I need to plan ahead for mine. I just hope the upcoming one goes over well so that there will be one for next year since dances aren't common here for public schools, then again…Odaiba Junior High runs like a private school. Back in America, we had them all the time and I really enjoyed them, which is why I suggested it to the student council."

The dance idea was Mimi's. Not only was the girl popular amongst her peers, but she seemed to have a bit of an influence. As mentioned, dances in Japanese schools were out of the ordinary, then again, OJH was no ordinary school in general. It seemed to be very student focused, as the faculty was always open to suggestions to make the school run more smoothly or ways to keep the students focused and happy. They took the harmonious thing to the extreme, but wasn't too against handing out punishments when it was called for.

Back in October, Mimi had been talking to her friends about the school dances she'd been to in America, and how much fun they were. She really wanted to share that with everyone at OJH and actually brought up the idea of having a school dance to the student council. After considering it, and not fully minding the idea, the student council went to the faculty to argue Mimi's case. Her argument was that students will work even harder on their tests and exams if they knew they were going to be rewarded in the end with a big celebration. After it was approved by both the faculty and the PTA, the planning for it went underway.

The third years were very appreciative of Mimi's suggestion, and during student council meetings, the third years recruited students to form a Dance Committee Club, which Miyako's older sister, Chizuru, was apart of, and the teacher head of it was Mr. Ishidzuka. Many gave various suggestions of how the dance should be. They even asked for input from Mimi, the unofficial member, who had suggested a formal, westernized dance, where the girls dressed luxuriously and the boys handsomely. The idea was voted upon and everyone agreed that it might be interesting to do and would constantly seek out the girl for ideas or suggestions, due to her experience with formal dances.

"Is Kou-niichan going to get new clothes too?"

"I don't know what he's going to do."

"Is Kou-niichan still having trouble doing big kid's work?

"A little bit. He seems a bit sad."

"He's sad?"

Mimi nodded. The girl thought for a moment. "I know!" she clapped. "Let's go out for some soft-cream to make Kou-niichan happy!"

Mimi couldn't help but playfully laugh at the smiling girl. "How is _that_ going to make him happy?"

"I don't know, but it'll make _me _happy!"

"Maybe another time, it's time for bed."

"Aww, do I _have_ to go to bed?"

"Yes. When you become big like me, you can stay up later."

"But what about Ton? He's just a baby, and he gets to stay up!"

"No he doesn't. He's going to bed too. While you're taking your bath, he's going to be in his crib sound asleep."

"Okay, I like that idea!"

"Okay, now go get your pajamas and head to the washroom, while I put your brother down for the night. I'll draw your bath after I put him in his crib, but you can rinse off already."

Isako rushed off to get her bed clothes while Mimi picked up Ton, who was laying his head on her chest, falling asleep in her arms. "Looks like you're already getting sleepy," she whispered as she gingerly walked up the stairs to the boy's room.

She put the boy down into his crib, who was fidgety at first, but he finally stopped fighting the sleep, and nodded off. Once done with that, Mimi went to the washroom, where Isako had just finished rinsing herself off thoroughly. Mimi drew up the bath, and sat her in to soak for a while. When done with that, she helped the girl out of the deep, Japanese-style tub, which her aunt seemed to love, despite the western style house, and Isako then washed herself and her hair. After thoroughly rinsing all of the soap off, and tying up Isako's hair, Mimi helped her back into the tub to soak one last time. Mimi's plan was to take a bath too and just relax after Isako was done.

The final soaking was done, so she helped the girl out of the tub, dried her off, and helped her into her bed clothes. After tucking Isako in, the girl insisted on "Mimi-oneechan" reading her a story to help her sleep. Mimi picked up Isako's book of fairytales and read a few of them off to her. It took a while, but Isako _finally_ fell asleep.

"Great, now I can go take a nice, hot, relaxing bath…" Mimi did pretty much the same, and soaked in the tub. "This is _so_ therapeutic…"

Once done, her hair wrapped in a towel, and while wearing a robe, she decided to head to her room to check her e-mail, but was distracted when she heard the doorbell ring. She ran down the steps and answered. "Hikari-chan, Miyako-chan, Chinatsu-chan, Yuuko-chan, Ayame-chan! Everyone! What are you doing here?"

"Surprise!" cheered Chinatsu.

"I was starting to grow a bit bored over how quiet it was around here. Come on in!" Mimi moved aside to let the five girls in. They all headed to the living room to sit down in the comfortable chairs and on the couch. "Hold on for a moment, I'll be right back." Mimi rushed to her room, and changed into something more appropriate than a bathrobe and a towel. She returned in her pajamas, as she didn't mind being casual around them, while brushing her long locks.

"What brings you all by?"

"We heard you were babysitting, so we decided to come over and keep you company," Miyako told her.

"We also decided to visit you since there is a chance that you won't be able to attend the party that Sora-san is throwing," Hikari added.

"Yeah, because you're going to Hikarigaoka tomorrow," Ayame continued.

"Good thing this trip wasn't a _secret_!" Mimi laughed while giving Miyako a look. The glasses-wearing computer whiz couldn't help but laugh at herself.

"Miyako-san and I were at the station. We were going out to Venus Fort too, and then we ran into Ayame-san, Chinatsu-san, and Yuuko-san. They started talking about you and how you weren't able to go to Venus Fort with them, so we all decided that we'd come over here."

"Yes, we decided to leave all those hot, good-looking guys for your sake."

Mimi laughed at Yuuko. "I'm really glad you guys came over. Thanks once again."

The group just sat there, pretty much chatting and gossiping way, like really good friends. Miyako then suggested that they all play card games, as Mimi's uncle had a deck of playing cards. The girls played until the Nishimuras returned home. After they came home, Mimi's guests left. The girl explained to her aunt and uncle how she was going to be spending the day with Koushirou in Hikarigaoka Sunday and to go on with whatever plans they had.

Once done, she headed to her room, and sat at the desktop computer to check on her many e-mails from her many admirers, but her friends' messages were always checked first.

Author's Notes

Note 1: Manjuu is similar to the treat, mocchi (which is a pounded rice cake type treat). The outside part of manjuu is made with rice powder, buckwheat, and flour, while the inside can vary, but seems the most used is an azuki-bean and sugar mixture or some other red-bean paste. I've had azuki-bean ice cream before, and that's pretty sweet. Tasted okay to me. That aside, I like manjuu. It's really tasty. Anyway, you put in the filling, kneed the dough, fry it up. As my mother has said, seems that most anything fried tastes good. lol

* * *

Note 2: I made the comment about the oven because in Japan, most Japanese apartments lack an oven big enough for baking or roasting or doesn't have one at all. I don't know where I heard or read it, but it was said that, "The Japanese don't bake!"

* * *

Note 3: Nikujaga is a Japanese beef-stew made with beef, onions, potatoes (sometimes people use pumpkin, to my knowledge), peppers, a sweetened soy sauce, and vegetables.

* * *

Note 4: In Japan, families, for the most part, share the bath water, which is why Isako had to rinse, soak, soap up, rinse, and then soak again (even though, I'm not sure if it's that extensive). It's a method used to keep the water clean for the next person who gets in and is also a way to help preserve water. Also, the tubs/showers are separate from the toilets. In other words, they have washrooms and a toilet room (so to speak). That actually makes a heck of a lot more sense than to have the toilet and the tub/shower in the same room. At least it's not an inconvenience if someone has to use the bathroom, but can't because someone might already be in there taking a bath or a shower.

Fic Chapter Changes

The first change is the snack thing. Originally, I didn't have Koushirou eat a snack and just go straight to his room, but I decided to change that. Like I mentioned before, in the original version of this story, Koushirou, in a way, came across as kind of "emo" and "reclusive". I wanted to do away with that as that was never my original intent.

The next change here is the family outing. Originally it was a picnic in the park, but I changed it to a Science Museum visit instead. That seems to suit Koushirou's character more. Also, the conversation about planning an outing that next Sunday was added in as well as Mrs. Izumi's idea of making it a family onsen trip.

The Izumi dinner was changed a bit. The stew thing is the same, but the side dishes were changed to rice and miso soup, which is something traditionally served with nikujaga. I originally had bread (rolls) and salad. Koushirou's strange dessert was changed as well. I changed "chocolate fudge carrot cake brownies with purple jellybeans and chocolaty fudge sprinkles" to the onigiri with the avocado apple-cinnamon honey paste filling. Either way, the combination remained a strange one. lol

I added in brief dialogue to explain Mrs. Izumi's having to reorganize the contents of the box of documents that Koushirou disorganized. It didn't hit me when originally writing this how having not one person reference this would seem odd.

Mimi's phone conversation with Chinatsu was changed. I only showed Mimi's side of it, where as originally, I showed both sides of the conversation. I'm sure everyone can get the gist of it, though, so I felt that it wasn't necessary to include and just dropped it.

I added more information about the dance thing. In Japan, they don't have dances or social events like that in school. At the time I'd originally written this, though, I had no idea that they didn't.

I changed the order a bit of when Mimi's friends came over. Originally, I had them show up right after Mimi had put Ton down for bed. She was surprised by her friends, told them to come in and make themselves comfortable while she helped Isako in the bath and then read to her. I then had Mimi take a bath herself, but originally, she never did. Either way, I felt it would be better to have her do all that stuff before being surprised by her friends.


	9. 09  Koushirou's Search

Hi again everyone. I don't foresee this chapter having too many notes or changes. Anyway, for this chapter, Koushirou and Mimi finally head to Hikarigaoka and the search begins! Not much I can say beyond that. Oh yeah, I did add in for this story so far, which I don't think I mentioned, is that Koushirou wants to go to the party Sora is throwing (but he just doesn't see it as a priority) and also have that Mimi wants the both of them to go, not just her, like I wrote originally. In the original version, it probably came across that she could've cared less if Koushirou wanted to go or not, which wasn't my original intention.

Let's see, adding on, I decided to put up this chapter, along with 10 and 11 since all three kind of goes together. I hope you enjoy them.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 09: Koushirou's Search!

It was finally March 14, the day of the Hikarigaoka trip. A slightly unenthusiastic Mimi was waiting around for her redheaded companion in front of the stairway which led to Daiba Station, which was known for having an elevated train. It took a while for Mimi to get there, given where its location was, but she managed to get there at 9:00 sharp. Koushirou had wanted to head out early.

'Maybe if we hurry and do whatever it is he has to do, we'll get back in time for the party! I bet if Taichi-san would have been the one to throw it, he would have tried to have it at night someplace instead of the afternoon.' She started to pace back and forth in front of the station, growing slightly annoyed, as it was a bit chilly out. She walked amidst the crowd up the stairs and walked to the end of the tunnel, right before the area where one could by one's ticket. It was slightly warmer there, and didn't have as much of a breeze. "Where in the world is he!" she grumbled while tapping her foot. She looked down at her watch to see that it was nearly 9:30. "I could be sleeping right now!"

Right at that moment, Koushirou showed up looking for his friend. He didn't see her at the front, and entered the station with a large group of people. The station was terribly crowded, so he didn't see Mimi at the end of the tunnel right away and actually walked past her. Mimi noticed Koushirou from where she was and saw that he was wearing a green jacket, a red and grey long-sleeved shirt, grey pants, and black sneakers. What really caught her eye, though, was his signature red hair. She realized that he obviously hadn't seen her, so she did her best to get his attention.

"Koushirou! Koushirou-kun!" she called while jumping up and down, waving her arms wildly as best she could. "I'm over here! Koushirou-kun!"

Hearing his name, vaguely, he turned to see the elegant girl jumping, and made his way over to her. Mimi was dressed very nicely, which Koushirou couldn't help but notice. Her hair seemed wavier than usual, with some of it tied back, while the rest hung loosely down her back, past her shoulders. She was wearing a dark-red skirt, a close-fitting, short-sleeved yellow blouse, a white jacket, with a big matching handbag, and a pair of expensive looking brown boots. This was definitely flashy for the girl now-a-days. She dressed more casually compared to when she was younger and realized that one's internal beauty was just as important as one's outer beauty, if not more. She normally wore jeans and midriff shirts, or if she _did_ decide to wear skirts or dresses outside of school, which was more than when she would wear pants or jeans, they weren't _too_ dressy looking.

Mimi had definitely matured in that sense and wasn't so self absorbed when it came to outer beauty or what everyone else thought of her, and her choice of friends showed that. Some of her peers thought of her as a bit strange since she _was_ such good friends with Koushirou. She was still pretty popular, but she was never looked down upon for her choice of friends who weren't particularly with the "in" crowd. Mimi was friendly with pretty much everyone. Another reason why her popularity probably never waned was more than likely due to the fact that she was good friends with the local celebrity, Yamato, and he was also friends with Koushirou. This was probably also another reason why Koushirou was never bothered or bullied. "If Ishida thinks he's cool, then he must be all right", most would assume.

"H-hello, Mimi-san. I-I'm very sorry for being late. R-ready to go?" the boy asked hesitantly, once again distracted by the girl's beauty.

"Yeah, sure, I guess so," she responded simply.

"Oh-okay." Koushirou looked away from Mimi quickly and took out a train schedule. "We-we're going to have to go by way of the Toei Oedo line, which will be able to take us all the way to Hikarigaoka-eki (Hikarigaoka Station), which is right after the stop at Nerima Kasugachou-eki, but since we're at this station, which is on the Yurikamome line, we'll definitely have to transfer over one time to catch a train on the Toei Oedo line at Shiodome-eki and then…"

Mimi tuned Koushirou out. Right now, she was questioning herself as to _why_ she agreed to such a thing in the first place, going to Hikarigaoka. For once in her life, her nosiness, which was _definitely_ inherited from her mother, had gotten her into a situation she'd rather not have to deal with, as she would've preferred to do something else. She wanted to spend the morning getting ready for the party, or sleeping in at least. 'I guess I could do a _little_ bit of shopping while I'm there, like I told Chinatsu-chan. I always accessorize for parties.'

"Mimi-san?"

"Oh, um, sorry."

"You don't have to come with me, and I would understand completely if you would rather spend the day doing whatever it is you would normally do on a day off."

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting rid of me _that_ easily. I'm going and _that's_ final," she told him firmly.

"Whatever you say," he sighed. "Let's go get our tickets."

The two stepped back outside to go to the automated ticket kiosk, and bought their tickets. The price wasn't too high, given that they were both students. Once done, the two headed to their designated platform and waited for the train and boarded it. It wasn't too crowded, despite the crowd in the station, so the two were able to find vacant seats beside one another. Mimi did notice, though, the amount young people on the train. Having only one free day a week was pretty stressful, and one thing Mimi missed about her time in America, aside from her friend Michael and the other Digidestined children she'd met, was the school system, but only because the students there all over the country were granted both Saturday and Sunday off, as opposed to only _some_ schools not meeting on Saturdays.

'Well, let's see…what places in Hikarigaoka are good for shopping?'

'I wonder where my biological family is now and why they put me up for adoption. What if I find out that they did so because they really didn't want me to begin with, and that my chances of reconciling are pretty much low? If that is the case, then I'll have no true place to belong…'

The two continued their ride in silence, drowned in their own thoughts: Mimi's thoughts being fun and playful, while Koushirou's were serious and somber. They made their transfer, just as Koushirou had explained they would need to do, but the two still seemed to keep quiet during the trip. The usual sociable Mimi wasn't too social because Koushirou wasn't making much of an effort to be social with her.

After what seemed like a lifetime to Mimi, the train finally stopped at Hikarigaoka Station. After both got off the train and exited the station, Mimi twirled and cheered. "We're finally here! I'm _definitely_ hitting the mall or either one of the department stores! Hikarigaoka is known for having good places to shop."

"The mall? The department stores?"

"Of course! Like I said, Hikarigaoka has some of the best places to shop here in Tokyo! Mama and I used to come here all the time whenever we wanted to do some shopping."

"Whatever you say," he shrugged.

The boy, to Mimi, came across as being a tad bit annoyed after mentioning she wanted to do some shopping. She hated to purposely upset or annoy anyone, as it wasn't her style to.

"I-I-I mean after we finish researching of course," she added on quickly.

"Yeah, I guess that's okay," he tediously replied.

'Way to go, Mimi,' the girl sarcastically scolded herself. "So, where are we going first?"

"To be honest, I'm not too sure yet."

She didn't question him and just tagged along anyway. The two ended up riding a good ways on the bus, until Koushirou insisted on getting off and walking. He was going by the directions he had written down, but, unfortunately, he'd written them down wrong.

Riding and walking around Hikarigaoka was fun, at first, but it was now getting frustrating. Mimi was starting to grow a _tad_ bit annoyed with Koushirou and his dragging her around, as they were back near the Hikarigaoka station.

First off, she _really_ wanted the two of them to attend Sora's party, and she didn't get to do any type of shopping done. She was also growing hungry. It was nearly 12:00 and she hadn't eaten anything that morning before leaving to meet up with him.

"Koushirou, I'm getting hungry," the girl unintentionally whined while holding her growling stomach. "We've been sightseeing all day! Couldn't we stop someplace to at least get something to snack on or something to drink?"

The redhead inadvertently ignored Mimi, pretty much, like that time where the pair of them, along with their Digimon partners, Tentomon and Palmon, were trapped in that ruin in the Digital World when they were children. By his ignoring her that particular time, she ran off and got herself lost in the temple's labyrinth with Koushirou's Tentomon by her side. He was so busy trying to figure out the mechanics of the strange place, that he ignored pretty much all around him. This was turning into another one of those times.

"_Kou_shirou-kun!"

He continued to study the map he'd picked up earlier once he realized he was lost. Mimi wished he'd just go to a police-box and ask for directions to wherever it was he needed to go, but as usual, he was trying to do everything on his own.

"Are you ignoring me you computer-geek pipsqueak!"

Mimi had finally grown annoyed to the point of resorting to such a childish tactic like name-calling, especially "computer-geek pipsqueak". It was a bit inaccurate due to the fact that he wasn't much of a pipsqueak anymore, as he was taller than she was, and he wasn't _really_ a much of a geek. Even with all of that, Koushirou still managed to ignore her.

"Koushirou no _baka_! Baka, baka, baka, _baka_!" she furiously shouted. She stormed off angrily, taking off in the opposite direction.

"Okay, I think I finally understand this," Koushirou said, completely oblivious to Mimi's trying to get his attention. "I actually misread this and mixed up the city blocks. Pretty silly of me, huh?" When he didn't receive a response, he looked behind him to come to the realization that he had been talking to himself. "Mimi-san?" The only thing the boy saw were other people walking the streets by him going to various shops or outdoor vendors. 'Where did she go?'

He started to walk around, calling out for the girl some more. After a while, he stopped to think for a moment. "Where would she go? When did she leave? _Why_ did she leave?" He scratched his head in confusion as he tried to recall the last time he had spoken with her directly. 'She did talk about shopping and wanting to eat or something. I _should_ just leave her and go to that place by myself…' He sighed. "I can't leave her behind. It'd be rude, besides, I know Mimi-san pretty well, and I have an idea where she may have gone since she mentioned wanting to shop. I suppose I should head towards the IMA Hikarigaoka Shopping Center. I'm not too far from it according to the map, but where I have to go is closer! I can't just _not_ go there! That information is much too vital to avoid!" He frowned slightly over having to go to such a place. He wasn't much of a shopper, unless it was for something specific. "I'm sorry, Mimi-san, I'll just have to look for you later…but, I should probably go anyway."

A person nearby, who had just come from a nearby vending machine, overheard the redhead and frowned slightly at her own selfishness. 'I shouldn't have stormed off, but I was hungry and thirsty and we've been lost _all_ day. I feel like Ryoga from Ranma 1/2 or those three kids on that Pocket Monsters show!"

The girl saw Koushirou walk off, so she decided to follow behind him at a bit of a distance, which was easy to do as the walkways were pretty busy. Holding her bottled water, she continued following, curious as to what he was going to do and if he was really going to the shopping center, a place he wasn't fond of, just to look for her. She actually found the gesture commendable.

The walk lasted a long while, and Mimi continued her hidden pursuit of the boy who was _definitely_ headed in the direction of the grand department store. She constantly glanced down at her watch. She saw that it was now nearly 13:00 (1:00), almost time for Sora's party. Koushirou only had one more block to go, but, he stopped abruptly at a big, plain looking building compared to the modern ones around it. Koushirou stared up at it. To Mimi, it almost looked as if he were debating with himself. In the front of the building, there was an area filled with young children playing.

The girl took a big gulp of her drink. 'Why did he stop here? He's almost to the mall.' She tried to get a little closer, but not by much.

"I found it!"

'What did he find?' She looked up at the sign on the building. 'Nerima Adoption Agency and Orphanage, Hikarigaoka branch. Why would he want to go in there?'

Author's Notes

Note 1: I'm not really making this up about Hikarigaoka being an ideal spot for shopping. The place does have quite a few shopping malls and department stores.

* * *

Note 2: Everything I used where Mimi got upset and left was from the original Digimon Adventure episode already mentioned. Mimi calling him a "Computer Geek Pipsqueak" was a dub addition, though, so, that's not original, of course. She yelled at him, "Koushirou-kun no baka!" when fed up with him, which pretty much translates to "Stupid Koushirou!" Out of those batch of episodes, this was one of my favorites, along with the one where the Bakemon were terrorizing Jou and Sora, and for the record, Jou wasn't going, "Bakemon lose your power", but I guess that's as close as the dubbers could get. For the original, Jou was actually using a Shinto mantra chant to drive the Bakemon away.

Anyway, getting slightly back on topic, I liked the original episode much better than the dubbed one. One thing I liked in a general sense was that Koushirou was partnered up with Mimi's Palmon and Mimi was partnered up with Koushirou's Tentomon. I found it interesting how it was set up that way, and, to my knowledge, this wasn't done for any other characters (at the time). I also liked it better mainly because Koushirou came across as being a bit more concerned about Tentomon and Mimi when comparing him to how "Izzy" acted, imo. Also, when Tentomon was going on about something being wrong after Izzy stopped talking abruptly for the dub, originally, Koushirou was still talking to them and warning them of something else being in the maze with them. For that entire scene, Tentomon didn't speak at all because Koushirou was doing all of the talking. Here, it seemed as if Izzy didn't fully care too much whether they got out safely or not, whereas there, Koushirou was tossing out suggestions to help them more.

Something else I found interesting about this episode concerning the two regarding their partner switch, was the fact that Palmon was trying to get Koushirou to understand Mimi and Tentomon was trying to get Mimi to understand Koushirou. I just found that incredibly ironic because I'm almost positive (for the Adventure/Adventure 02 group) that this has never been done for any of the other characters.

Another thing about that episode is dealing with Kentarumon (Centarumon). For the dub, Centarumon spoke throughout the episode when in pursuit to kill Izzy and Mimi. _Ken_tarumon for the original episode didn't speak until the Black Gear was removed. He didn't speak until he explained about the history behind the Digivices the children received. That was pretty much how it was with most of the Black Gear Digimon the children encountered for that arc. For instance, the episode where Gomamon evolved to Ikkakumon for the first time, they had encountered an Unimon. That Unimon didn't speak at all. The gear was just removed, and it flew away. Even when returning at the end of Adventure as one of the allies Mimi brought back, Unimon still didn't speak.

Fic Chapter Changes

First change, I actually named the station that they met at and I also mentioned the train-line needed for them to get to Nerima. I also added that they bought their tickets at the automated ticket kiosk in front of the station. I also described how Koushirou was dressed, where as originally, I didn't. Seems I always had trouble with describing male attire. Female characters can get away with accessorizing more. lol I also added that Mimi was carrying a handbag.

When Mimi was in thought, the next thing that came to mind was her wondering about who Hikari could've liked, and actually thought of Takeru, Daisuke, and Ken as being one of potential boys Hikari was crushing on. Of course, this would be pointless here given that I dropped Hikari from chapter 7.

I gave a name of the shopping center/mall that Koushirou is headed to in search of Mimi. Originally, I just said that he headed towards the mall.

Originally, I had Mimi coming from an outdoor vendor as opposed to a vending machine.

Originally, I had Mimi sipping her drink while walking. In Japan, this is considered rude. This is why I changed that Mimi was holding her drink and following behind Koushirou, as supposed to sipping on her drink while following him and also why I only had her drink when stopped, as that's more acceptable, but who knows if people actually follow the rule. It's like how one isn't supposed to ride his/her bike while holding an umbrella, and ironically, lots of people still do it. Also, there aren't many places to toss out one's trash, which is probably why it's more so common not to eat or drink while walking. For instance, I'm sure it's common for one to drink one's canned beverage if from a vending machine at the vending machine, as there's a trash bin right next to it.

When I originally wrote this story, as I mentioned, it was between 2001 and 2002, and if I'm remembering right, this was a 2001 chapter. At the time that this story takes place the traveling group wouldn't have been 'three' as the character of Kasumi (Misty) was dropped as a main character in 2002 (in Japan). During this time, Pokemon Advanced Generation would've been airing and the group would've been extended to four (as Takeshi stayed, and the characters of Haruka and Masato were added). I didn't even know her character was gone until years later. I never figured they would've permanently dropped a main character.


	10. 10  Mimi's Discovery!

Hi again everyone. Like the last chapter, I don't anticipate this one having many changes or notes for it. I'll probably change a bit of dialogue to be clearer or something, but, like I said, I couldn't see my having to change much as far as characters and such. Anyway, for this chapter, Mimi makes a discovery, like the title of this chapter insinuates, so, enjoy.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 10: Mimi's Discovery!

The walk lasted a long while, and Mimi continued her hidden pursuit of the boy who was _definitely_ headed in the direction of the grand department store. She constantly glanced down at her watch. She saw that it was now nearly 13:00 (1:00), almost time for Sora's party. Koushirou only had one more block to go, but, he stopped abruptly at a big, plain looking building compared to the modern ones around it. Koushirou stared up at it. To Mimi, it almost looked as if he were debating with himself. In the front of the building, there was an area filled with young children playing.

The girl took a big gulp of her drink. 'Why did he stop here? He's almost to the mall.' She tried to get a little closer, but not by much.

"I found it!"

'What did he find?' She looked up at the sign on the building. 'Nerima Adoption Agency and Orphanage, Hikarigaoka branch. Why would he want to go in there?'

"Wow, all of the answers I have been searching for are right here in this building," Mimi overheard Koushirou say. She was surprised that he was speaking his mind out in the open for all to hear. Mimi noticed the boy got a few looks from those passing by him, wondering why he was talking to himself aloud. "I can finally get those answers that have been on my mind for years, but what about Mimi-san? I really should continue on since I'm so close." The boy shook his head. "No, I really need to know this! I'm going to go in. Mimi-san will have to wait. If I can't find her after this, I can always send her a message through her mobile." His mind set, he made his way up the walkway and entered the building with the tinted glass doors. 'I'm sorry, Mimi-san, but this is more important than your shopping.'

'He went in? I wonder why? Maybe he does volunteer work.' Her curiosity taking over, she decided to follow him in, but made sure to keep her distance.

"I wonder where I'm supposed to go," Koushirou muttered aloud.

The boy seemed to be in the lobby of the building, if one could call it that. There were lots of potted plants around as well as religious objects around on pedestals and religion-themed paintings on the walls, like angels, but there were children inside as well, who looked to be playing or socializing. To Koushirou, this definitely had more of an orphanage feel to it than that of an adoption agency, but just figured that it had become more of one over the years. He didn't recall reading anything about the place being an orphanage. A little ways behind, after tossing her plastic bottle into a trash bin after entering, Mimi was still snooping, highly interested in finding out what business Koushirou had with this place.

One of the children was sitting near one of the potted plants in the carpeted area, but once the child saw Koushirou walk by her, she rushed up to him to greet him. Something about the redhead drew her to him. The child had long brown hair, tied up into two neat pigtails, big clear bright brown eyes, and a warm smile. She looked to be no more than three or four years old.

"Hello."

"Um, hello."

"Are _you_ going to be my new brother?" she asked innocently.

Koushirou was taken aback over the forwardness of the question. All he could manage to get out was, "Um…excuse me?"

"Are you going to be my new big brother?"

"Your new brother?"

She nodded anxiously. "Can you be my new brother? You seem like you're really nice." The girl lowered her head, and her warm smile slightly faded. "I don't have my _real_ big brother anymore," she explained while a frown made its way to her face. "The orphan people here told me that he is never going to come back and neither is my mommy and my daddy and that I am going to get a new mommy and daddy and maybe even a new big brother, but to never forget my real mommy, daddy, and big brother."

Mimi noticed that Koushirou was starting to look uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I can not be your brother, I'm afraid…" The girl looked as if she were about to cry. Slightly panicked, Koushirou added on quickly, while getting down on her level, "…b-but I _can_ be your friend." He put on a smile. "My name is Izumi Koushirou."

The girl smiled again, and then out of no where, hugged Koushirou. He didn't really know how to react to the girl's sudden show of affection. He really wasn't the affectionate type. He just hugged the girl back awkwardly.

'He's warm, just like oniichan,' the girl thought contently, not really wanting to let go.

Mimi, who had been hiding behind one of the potted plants, ducked her head out to a bit more to get a better view. She couldn't help but smile. The sight of Koushirou with the young child was touching, and his expression when the girl jumped into his arms was just plain entertaining. She couldn't wait to get back home to share this information with Miyako and Sora. She was almost tempted to take out her phone and get a picture of it.

After the embrace, Koushirou looked to visibly relax, and stood back up. "My name is Shimizu Kimiko and I am four years old. Are you going to take me home with you? It would be nice to have a big brother and a mommy and a daddy again."

"I-I would," Koushirou began sympathetically, "but I can't."

"Oh."

Once again, Kimiko looked like she was about to cry, which caused _him_ to, once again, panic. "No, wait! Please don't get sad. I, um, promise that I will visit you every Sunday from now on until you finally manage to find a home. I can act as your big brother until you get a real one again."

"I would like that. I would have a big brother again. I loved my big brother. He used to play with me and spend time with me whenever mommy and daddy were away or whenever mommy and daddy were busy with their cooking work for the people of the _whole_ town! One day, when my friend, Mitsuo-chan, and I were being walked home by his mommy, Yoko-bachan, and got to my house, our entire home was gone. The place where mommy and daddy worked to cook for people and our home that was over it." She sniffled. "Keichi-oniichan was there too."

* * *

'That poor girl. Her family must've run a restaurant or something like that and a fire must've broken out somehow.'

* * *

Before Koushirou could comment on the sad tale Kimiko had just told, another small child ran up to the girl. He looked to be about six or seven years in age. "Kimiko-chan, we were thinking about playing either hide-and-seek or *darumasan ga koronda. We could use another player."

"Oh, I like both games! I'd love to play, Motoki-chan!" The girl turned her attention towards Koushirou. "Do you want to play too, oniichan?"

"No thank you. You should go play with your friend."

"Okay, oniichan! Bye bye!" With that, the girl ran off with the dark-haired boy.

* * *

'That was really sweet and kind of Koushirou to promise that girl that he'd come back here every week. I'm sure that really made her day. Being all alone like that, a friend would be the most helpful to have.'

* * *

"Who was that guy?" Motoki asked as the two headed outside to the play area.

"He's my new big brother!"

"Are you leaving?"

"No, he's only going to be my pretend big brother until I can get a real one again."

"That's really nice. I hope I can get a new family someday too."

While the two were running by, Kimiko noticed Mimi standing behind the potted plant. "I wonder what that girl is doing there."

"Who knows," shrugged Motoki, "but let's hurry. Everyone else is waiting."

"Okay!"

* * *

Koushirou finally made his way to the front desk of the large area. There were three people sitting there: two women and one man. The oldest-looking one of the group looked to be the least busy, so Koushirou went to her.

"Good afternoon," the woman greeted cheerfully. "I am Karen Mitsuishi. How may I help you?"

"H-hello there, Mitsuishi-san."

She gave the boy a look. "You look a bit young to be adopting or fostering a child."

* * *

'I'll say…'

* * *

"No, no, it's nothing like that," the boy assured her. "I just need a bit of information," he replied slowly.

"Information? What kind of information?"

* * *

'I was wondering about that myself…'

* * *

"Well, I-"

"Oh no!" Mrs. Mitsuishi interrupted. "I hope you're not here for what I _think_ you're here for."

"Huh?"

"There do seem to be more young people coming here more so now-a-days in hopes that their families never find out about it, afraid of bringing shame to their families and not truly wanting to take the other drastic route."

"They do?"

She nodded. "I should have this paperwork ready since some of you children just don't know how to control yourselves now-a-days. Seems it was the same back home, too," she tsked while shaking her head, pulling out some papers. "Well, I suppose you should be commended for trying to be responsible about this, and in a way, I wish more people _did_ come here as opposed to going with the more severe option. It's not often we see stuff like that.

"Ahh, here it is. This is the paper work that you will need for your situation, and it should explain everything that you need to know." She handed the paper to Koushirou. "Now, where is the girl?" While waiting for him to respond, a certain girl peaking from behind a tall potted plant caught her eye. Mrs. Mitsuishi smiled knowingly. 'That girl's been back there for a while now. She looks to be about his age, so I can't help but wonder if that's the girl. She almost looks as if she's waiting to be invited up here.'

"Girl?"

"Yes, the girl whose baby you fathered that you now have to put up for adoption because, due to certain circumstances, you are unable to care for it."

* * *

Mimi's eyes went wide. '_WHAT_!'

* * *

"_What_!" Koushirou's face had gone completely red.

"That wasn't the response I was expecting. Where are the child and the girl? If your families didn't notice the child, then the mother must be a really stout girl who didn't look as if she were pregnant or either she was the very small type who only looked to gain a small amount of weight. How old is the child and how long ago did the mother have it? That information is vital for us to have so that we can help you, unless she has yet to have the child and you're just trying to make arrangements early."

* * *

'Koushirou is a _father_? Is that why he's here? Is he here to get information on putting a child up for adoption?'

She got out of her shocked mode temporarily to logically think the situation over, or try to at least.

'I never knew Koushirou had it in him to actually do something like that. He's more experienced than I thought when it comes to girls. Does he have a secret lover? No, he _can't_ have one! It wouldn't be right for him to have one! But what do I care if he _does_ have a secret girlfriend? It's no business of mine…AHH, never mind!

'He got someone pregnant! Mr. I put computers and problems first before everything else got someone pregnant!' She shuddered. 'Why does that somehow sound wrong and disturbing to me…'

* * *

It took the boy a short while, but he finally managed to come back to reality, his face still glowing red.

"No, I am _not_ a father! I do _not_ have any children! I don't even have a girlfriend!" he said in defense. '_That's_ common?'

* * *

After hearing Koushirou say that he wasn't a father and that he didn't have a girlfriend, she breathed out in relief. She seemed to be more, pleased, though, that Koushirou wasn't dating.

'Koushirou getting someone pregnant would've been very disturbing, but-but I probably would've felt the same way if it had been like, Taichi-san or Jou-senpai too, and even more so if it were someone like Takeru-kun or Daisuke-kun or Ichijouji-kun.'

* * *

"Oh, my mistake," the woman apologized in embarrassment. She took back the paper she'd given Koushirou and put it away. "I'm very sorry for making that assumption."

"That's okay." He was still a bit flabbergasted over the accusation. He literally couldn't imagine himself in the situation for either the action _or_ the surprise result.

"Now, what type of information do you need?"

"I need information about an adoption."

* * *

'Why? I wonder if one of his parents are adopted and just hates talking about it. Maybe that's why he came all the way here. Maybe either Mr. Izumi or Mrs. Izumi was adopted from here. It wouldn't be surprising if most of Koushirou's family lived someplace in this area.'

* * *

"I'm sorry, but I can't give out such confidential information unless those involved with the adoption itself is present."

"_I am more involved than you know_," he muttered under his breath.

"I have worked at this particular orphanage for 20 years and this is the first time since I've been here that someone your age has come in here requesting confidential information."

"I'm sorry."

"Cheer up. You seem to be a very nice guy," the woman smiled to him. 'I'm sure that I could help explain the procedure of how one is adopted.'

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"I can tell that. Anyway, I may be able to tell you something based on my knowledge. I do remember some adoption cases better than others."

"I guess that would be okay. I'm curious about the Izumis. Do you know anything about them?"

'I wasn't expecting him to actually give a name. I wonder if I should actually tell him anything about them.' She turned her attention back to Koushirou. "The name, Izumi, is familiar, but the name _is_ a rather common one around here."

"So you don't remember any cases involving any Izumis?"

"Well, now that you mention it, I _do_ remember this one case dealing with a couple who had wanted to adopt a child badly and luckily for them, they managed to find one. I mainly remember their case because I dealt with it personally and as I mentioned earlier, some cases are more memorable than others, and their particular case was very memorable, especially with the child they eventually adopted. Those two were Izumis."

"Very interesting." Koushirou sounded intrigued to Mimi.

'I remember them fairly well. I always did wonder what happened to them and how they got along with that child they adopted. I can't remember the child's name, but I might know it if I hear it. Their names were…man what were they…oh yeah! Izumi Masami and his wife, Yoshie. That case was also memorable since I was acquainted with the adopted child's _real_ parents…'

"Why were the Izumis so anxious to adopt a child?"

"It was a pretty sad story, but I feel that it is not my place to say. You _are_ technically not connected to this case, after all. I know I'm saying more than what I should right now." She looked at the boy suspiciously once again. "Who are you and why are you so concerned about the Izumis?"

"Izumi Koushirou."

"_Kou_shirou?" She thought for a moment, coming to a realization. 'That was the name of the child they adopted! I remember that now!'

"Yes, Koushirou is my given name."

"Are you the son of Izumi Masami and Izumi Yoshie?"

"Yes."

"If it's okay, would you mind verifying that please? Do you have any identification?"

"No, I don't mind at all." He went through his wallet, and took out his school identification card and handed it to the lady.

"So, you really _are_ who you say you are, even though I could take more measures to verify this, but you seem to be legit."

* * *

'I wonder what's going on.'

* * *

"So, you're curious about _that_ adoption," she muttered while handing back Koushirou's identification. "What have they told you?"

Koushirou lowered his head. "Nothing. They do not know that I know."

"Oh."

"I want to find my real parents. I feel that it is time I meet them face to face…"

* * *

'_Real_ parents! Koushirou's adopted?'

Author's Note

Note 1: Darumasan ga koronda is similar to the game Red Light Green Light. The person who is it sings the song with his back to everyone and when done, turns to catch the person who didn't freeze.

Fic Chapter Changes

I gave Kimiko a full name. Originally, I just had her introduce herself as "Kimiko". I was also almost tempted to change her name to Kiyoko (which would mean pure child), but changed my mind since I use the name for a main character in this fic's sequel (I may go back to it someday).

When Kimiko is telling her story, I changed one main thing, and that was the person who had brought her home to the burned down home. I originally had that it was her "Aunty Yoko", but in Japan, they usually place orphaned children with blood relatives, hence Koushirou's situation, even though his "adoptive father" is a distant relative of his. If there was an "Aunty Yoko" around, I doubt the girl would even be in such a place when there's a relative right there to place her with.

I changed the name of Kimiko's brother to Keiichi. I also added in the character of Mitsuo and changed "Aunty Yoko" to a neighbor. I know that Yoko-bachan can translate to Aunt Yoko, but in this regard, she's just using it because she's an older woman.

I implied that the family ran a restaurant. Maybe a place that may specialize in preparing yakisoba or some other dish that may require a grill to prepare the food.

I originally only mentioned hide-and-seek. I decided to add in darumasan ga koronda too. When I did write this story, I was curious of there being a game equivalent to Red Light Green Light, but didn't know of any back then at the time, which is why I stuck with only hide-and-seek.

Originally, Karen's name was Kiyoko Mitsuishi, but I decided to make her a foreigner, hence the name change. I only did that because of how outspoken she was.


	11. 11  Questions & Answers

Hi again everyone. Now Mimi knows Koushirou's secret of his being adopted! Pretty interesting, eh? Now, for this chapter, Koushirou will end up learning more about his biological parents, but will it be enough to satisfy his curiosity? You'll see. For this chapter, just like the previous two, there probably won't be too many changes or author's notes. Also, expect to see the other Chosen Children and their friends next chapter. I would explain more, but I'll do that later once you get there.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 11: Questions & Answers…

"So, you're curious about _that_ adoption," she muttered while handing back Koushirou's identification. "What have they told you?"

Koushirou lowered his head. "Nothing. They do not know that I know."

"Oh."

"I want to find my real parents. I feel that it is time I meet them face to face…"

* * *

'_Real_ parents! Koushirou's adopted?' A realization then came to her. 'I wonder if this is why he's been acting so strange lately.'

* * *

"Mr. Izumi, would you like to go someplace so that we may talk more thoroughly?"

"Yes, I would," he nodded resolutely. "I've found out a couple of things about myself that I would like to have verified."

"Could one of those things concern your place of birth?" He nodded again. "There are a couple of conference rooms here; we could go there."

Koushirou was ready to take the older woman up on her offer, but didn't move from his spot. "Well, I have a bit of a situation here. I was really on my way to the shopping district nearby to look for my friend and I came across here by coincidence…somewhat," he mumbled.

"Hmm, please tell me what this gir….er…friend looks like. Describe your friend."

"Well, she's a little shorter than I am, has long light-brown hair and was wearing some of it tied up, I think, she was wearing a skirt, but I don't remember the color right off…oh, she was carrying around a big white hand-bag…but that doesn't help much since most girls carry those things around…"

"I'm sure that you will find your friend as soon as she wants to be found."

* * *

'I get the feeling that that woman knows I'm here. She did keep glancing back here earlier. They've also gotten too quiet and I can't hear them as well anymore.' She stepped from behind the tall plant. 'I guess I've been spying long enough.' The girl started to walk towards Koushirou…

* * *

"What do you mean?"

The woman leaned over the counter and whispered, "Look behind you."

"Look behind me?" he asked, puzzled.

She nodded to him and sat back in her seat. She was grinning widely. Koushirou turned around to see the girl he had just described standing a little ways in front of him now. "Mimi-san!"

"Hey there, Koushirou," she said while walking up beside him, his eyes glued to her. "How's it going?"

'She's being so casual,' the boy noted. "How long have you been here?"

"She's been here for a while. I noticed her shortly after you came in, but didn't say anything given what I was originally thinking."

"Wow, you were here the entire time," said Koushirou in astonishment.

"Y-yeah, I'm sorry I didn't say anything earlier."

"Forget about it." He sighed, and grew quiet. "So, I suppose you heard…"

She nodded. "You came to Hikarigaoka to find out more about your birth parents."

"Yeah…"

"If you really want that information, we could go to one of the vacant rooms, and I can gather it for you."

"I would really appreciate that, Mitsuishi-san."

The woman spoke with the other two at the counter with her, to let them know that she was going to work with a technical former client. Even though she could have had one of them do so, as it was obvious that Mrs. Mitsuishi was the most experienced worker there, she wanted to deal with Koushirou's case. She rose from her seat behind the counter to join Koushirou. "Okay, let's go. It's right this way."

The redhead followed behind the woman, while Mimi watched them off. Koushirou soon realized that he was the only one following Mrs. Mitsuishi and that a certain karaoke-loving girl wasn't by his side. He stopped in his tracks. "Mitsuishi-san, please wait a moment." He turned back towards Mimi. "Mimi-san, you're my partner, so you should probably come along with me." He gave the girl a look, wondering, 'What does she really think of me now that she knows?'

"Koushirou-kun…"

The girl nodded awkwardly. She wasn't sure if she should hear what Mrs. Mitsuishi had to say or not, and figured that the information was probably highly confidential. She walked up beside Koushirou and gave him a half smile. He turned his head quickly. "L-let's go, Mimi-san. We're ready, Mitsuishi-san."

She led them to her office as opposed to one of the vacant rooms she mentioned. It consisted of a desk, which held a computer with a flat-screen monitor, two seats in front of that desk, a window, with the blinds closed, and the lights of the room were a bit dim. Mrs. Mitsuishi left them both to retrieve all the files they had on Koushirou's adoption.

During their short time there, Mimi was incredibly nervous and neither one of them spoke. She had a multitude of questions for Koushirou, but she felt that it might offend him in some way, especially the generic, "What is it like to be adopted?" question. Another question that racked her mind was how he had found out about his adoption in the first place if neither of his parents had ever mentioned it to him.

Mrs. Mitsuishi returned with a folder filled with many documents. She took a seat behind her desk, and slipped on a pair of glasses. She then started to look through the folder.

"After a while, I started to remember your case a bit more. It was one of the ones I handled myself. The _only_ reason I remember your case is because you were one of the fastest cases I ever dealt with and was also one of my firsts when I started working here full time."

"Eh?"

"In other words, it didn't take us _too_ long to find a couple that was willing to take you in."

"So, what happened? Is there any way I can find my _real_ family?" he asked. He then muttered, "_The sooner, the better. . ._"

"Is there something the matter?"

"No, it's just that our place is going to be a bit crowded in about a year, and I would like to contact my birth parents just to see what they're like."

* * *

'The baby! He's doing this because of the baby! He isn't all that fond over the addition his family is going to get. Could he actually be…_jealous_?'

* * *

"That's going to be difficult to do."

"Well, why did my birth parents put me up for adoption? Was I born to an unwed mother who couldn't take care of me or brought shame to her family because of it and was threatened to be disowned or disinherited by them? Did the two of them dislike the idea of becoming parents and preferred to leave me in an orphanage than to actually try to care for me? Please tell me. I have a right to at least know of that _and_ of my true place of birth as well as the names of my birth parents. Please, Mitsuishi-san," he pleaded. Seeing Koushirou like this was painful to Mimi.

Mrs. Mitsuishi was reluctant to answer these questions, as she looked over in Mimi's direction. Mimi got the hint and started to stand.

Without realizing it, Koushirou grabbed the girl's arm, but didn't look her way. "No, wait! I want her to stay. She's my partner through all of this," he glanced over at her, and quickly let go of her arm, "and my…friend…"

"Alright, if you insist." She ran her fingers through her short, stringy blonde hair while Mimi retook her seat.

* * *

'That was very nice of him to insist that I stay. I'm even gladder that he _genuinely _sees me as a friend. It's like he's opening up more and finally letting me in to share something so personal.' Mimi was growing a bit overwhelmed, and felt like crying, but held back. 'Thank you, Koushirou. I'm now curious as to what his real family is like. I wonder if they like computers a lot too.'

* * *

"Okay, let's continue on then. Now, your parents were married in 1987, but your mother kept her maiden name. Seems, that they had been together for a long time before marrying and unless you can manage to find people who were close friends to the two, then they could probably tell you why your mother kept her maiden name, but I suppose it's not any of our business or all _that_ relevant."

"No, it really isn't…" he stated bluntly.

"Anyway, I actually remember them."

"Wait, are you saying that you knew my birth parents on a non-professional level?"

"In a way, but I didn't know them personally. I just knew _of_ them, for the most part. I used to be an English Language Teacher at their university. I was just starting out here in Japan. I was in my late 20s at the time."

* * *

'Wow, she must be older than she looks…'

* * *

"Your father was a very smart individual and was very talented when it came to mathematics and technological related things." She laughed a bit. "All of that was way over my head. In my home country, I was certified to only teach math (and other subjects) on the elementary school level, English Literature at the secondary level, and English Language for all levels internationally. If I also remember correctly, your father seemed to be fairly well-known amongst his peers. I remember his constantly being invited for karaoke and the like."

'Popular, eh? That's the complete opposite of me. I may be known, but not popular.'

"You know, now that I look at you, you seem to resemble your father a little bit. I don't know _how_ I missed it! I can't put my finger on it exactly, I think it's your eyes, but there _is _something about you that reminds me of your father, but I'd have to say you're a clone of your mother from what I remember of her. You seem to have a lot of her features. Well, never mind that. I'll continue. Both your mother and your father must have met during their time at *Toudai, but I'm not too sure."

"Tokyo U?" the two asked in surprise.

"Yes, one of the most well-known schools internationally, as well as one of the most difficult schools to get into. I've translated the entrance exams for Tokyo U, and the exam is _very_ difficult," she confirmed. "I think your father was there for mathematical engineering or something like that. Anyway, both of them graduated. Even though your father could've definitely ended up in a career to put all of his mathematical and engineering genius to use, he seemed to find the university life exhilarating. He decided to make a career out of it and, eventually, became a lecturer at Odaiba University.

"He was very well-known there. I got to know him after a while. I had a job there in the university's international department. I taught some of the subjects in English required for those coming from English-bound countries as most were still learning Japanese or taking Japanese language courses.

"I dropped out of the teaching profession about….14, 15 years ago and moved here to Nerima to work at this orphanage that my husband and I had taken over just a couple of years prior, so compared to other orphanages and agencies, this place is still fairly new. After coming here to work permanently, I realized how much I enjoyed helping children find homes. I found it to be more of a calling than teaching children or young adults. As for this particular orphanage, most here don't have any family at all. It's a small number, but still more than there should be.

"Now, I know that you're probably wondering about how, on paper, it may come across as saying you're not really a citizen of Japan, I guess you could say. You do understand, right?"

Koushirou nodded. Mimi just looked from Koushirou to Mrs. Mitsuishi in confusion.

"Your father, along with some other university professors of the Tokyo area, was asked to attend a conference in New York. I was invited as well, given that I'm from there, but was unable to attend mainly due to work that needed to be done here. I can only assume that your mother really wanted to go as well. She was already pregnant with you and had to have been in her final weeks, or either you were an early birth. How she managed the flight is beyond me. I'm pretty sure that she was very healthy, but I know that if it had been _me _I would've been miserable flying such a long way while nearly 9 months pregnant. I didn't even like taking the trains when I was pregnant. That aside, all I know is that she and your father left with it only being the two of them, and returned with an addition. They stayed in New York for an extra month or so before returning with you.

"Every faculty member of the Odaiba University staff went out for a big celebration after your father's return. I was still there too, even though I was about to resign from the business."

"Koushirou-kun…"

"Yes, he was born in Manhattan, New York at Mount Sinai hospital, not here in Tokyo or even Hikarigaoka or Nerima since you were living here with the Izumis."

Koushirou nodded slowly, while Mimi took in all of the information. She found it interesting how she had an American friend who didn't know a thing about America.

"Up until recently, as you said, I always figured I had been born here in Hikarigaoka since I had lived here at such an early age, even though before the age of four, I don't have many memories. I've known for years that I'd been adopted, but didn't realize that due to a technicality, that I'm not a citizen."

"Well, given the circumstance, you do qualify to be an American citizen, even if your parents weren't, but, your parents moved back here with you and as you know, Japan doesn't recognize dual-citizenship. You have until about the age of 20 to choose which nationality you want, but since your parents had no intention of remaining in the US for living purposes, they chose it for you.

"It seems that on the adoption paper, it said Japanese-American due to your being born there, so, like you said, it's just a small technicality."

"I guess you're right, but it was still surprising to see that."

"How long have you known about your adoption?"

"I don't know. I guess ever since I was about...eight or nine…"

* * *

'That would've been either our second year or third year at Odaiba Elementary.

'Maybe that's why he's so distant whenever he has to talk about anything dealing with family history, like Ishidzuka-sensei pointed out. He's been carrying around that secret for a long time now, and I guess it bothered him more than he truly let on, but I'm still curious as to why he's making such a big deal out of it. He's adopted, so what?'

* * *

"That's a long time to carry that type of a secret around, Mr. Izumi," the woman stated. 'Usually with the adoption of infants or _really_ young children, the parents never reveal the fact since they wouldn't remember it anyway.'

Koushirou didn't even _want_ to get on that subject, and changed it almost instantaneously. "You've mentioned all of these things, such as accomplishments, about my father, but have mentioned nothing about my mother, aside from her and my father probably meeting at Tokyo University, that she'd had me in America, and that both were married when they had me. What exactly is she like?"

"She was very knowledgeable, just like your father, but I don't recall her being as _popular_ as your father. She was one of my best English-Language students and I don't think she was there for a science-related major and was there for probably one of the arts. Like I said earlier, you do resemble her, only she wore glasses. She was a pretty woman, but quiet and probably led a lonesome life, I'd say."

"Lonesome in what way?"

"Ironically, she lost her family when she was young too and grew up in an orphanage."

* * *

'It must run in the family,' the girl muttered sarcastically in thought.

* * *

"Really?"

"Your mother wasn't from Odaiba, but wasn't too far from there as she was still in Minato. She was from the Shinagawa area. She lived at the orphanage, but was, unfortunately, never adopted. She managed to get into the University of Tokyo, and to pay for it, she'd applied for a scholarship through the JSA (Japanese Scholarship Association) and won a full one which was a blessing for her since she had no family to help pay for the expenses and she also didn't have to worry about working to pay school expenses, not counting stuff students would do outside of school of course, like trips and all that."

"Mitsuishi-san, how do you know all of these things?" asked Mimi, who had finally grown tired of remaining quiet. "If you manage a lot of cases, how come this one is so memorable to you?"

"Like I mentioned before, this was one of my early cases and the case of Mr. Izumi here was a fast one, and I guess it's a bit more memorable because I knew his biological parents somewhat, due to their being former students of mine and because of my working with his father."

"I understand that, but it just seems like the stuff you've mentioned is something a close friend would know, not a teacher or a co-worker."

"Hm, just call me observant," she smiled. "Those two were one of the more well-known couples around the Toudai campus, and it was a real pleasure working with Mr. Izumi's real father."

"But how did you know about Koushirou's birth mother having to grow up in an orphanage too?"

"Well, when a child is brought in, it is customary to find out the parents' history."

"So, what else do you know about my real mother?"

"She moved to Odaiba with your father, and she became a grade-school teacher. She always seemed to enjoy children. She was a teacher at Odaiba Elementary School."

* * *

'Wow, she was a teacher at _our_ school! This is like too much of a coincidence.'

* * *

"So both of my parents are teachers?"

"Yes, but I'd say for different reasons. Your father just wanted to share his knowledge of mathematics with everyone, which is why he chose to become a mathematician, but your mother seemed to enjoy helping others. While at Toudai, in her spare time, she'd actually go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Hachioji Children's Hospital to volunteer there as well as some orphanages, despite most being a bit of an inconvenience given where the university's campus was. She really did seem to love children due to how faithful she seemed to be when going. That was her extra curricular activity. I'm also assuming that's why she taught at an elementary school, to be with younger children."

"At least we now know why math and all that technological stuff seem to come easily to you." Koushirou nodded, but seemed to grow a bit bothered again. "What's wrong?" Mimi asked.

He ignored the girl's query, as he had one of his own. "You still haven't told me why I was left here, Mitsuishi-san. You're going on about how my mother loved being around children, and yet, she left me to complete strangers…"

"Sorry," she apologized. She was purposely trying to avoid giving the inevitable answer. She heaved out a heavy sigh. "Poor Satoru-san and Miki-san…"

"Those were their names? My father's name was 'Satoru' and my mother's name was 'Miki'?"

"Fukami Satoru and Misayoshi Miki were their names. It was pretty sad, their situation."

"It couldn't be helped, their having to leave me here, could it?"

She nodded sadly. "You see, you will never be able to locate them. They're both…"

"They're both what?"

"Maybe I'm not the right one to divulge this information to you. Since you already know of your adoption, maybe you should speak with the Izumis ab-"

"No!" Koushirou uncharacteristically shouted as he stood, pounding his fist down on the slick desk's surface in frustration.

It was at that very moment where Mimi _truly_ felt sorry for him. She had never seen him get upset over pretty much anything to the extent that he'd raise his voice. She couldn't even recall an instance where she'd witnessed him losing his temper out of all the years she'd known him.

"They haven't told me anything after all of this time! What makes you think that they'd share that with me now? They had their chances and blew _all_ of them! I had to find out for my_self_ that I wasn't really their son and I just found out a couple of _nights_ ago that I wasn't even born here in this country!"

* * *

'That's the night he walked me home…maybe that's why he was in such a hurry to leave. He must've discovered that he wasn't born here and wanted to get back home to check it out. Maybe that's also why he was acting so peculiar when we were out for karaoke. That was probably weighing on his mind. Wow, and for all of our sakes, he still tried to come along and join us.'

* * *

"I have a right to know all of this! I don't even know my _real_ name!"

"W-well, your given name is Koushirou, but your family name was changed to Izumi. You had your mother's name. The Izumis changed it when they adopted you. Now, as for your parents, they are both…deceased. They were both killed in a terrible auto accident."

Mimi gasped. Koushirou looked as if the entire world had collapsed down on him. He really hadn't been expecting news so drastic, nor did it come to mind, as he was the type to usually point out the obvious, even though Mrs. Mitsuishi had hinted at it earlier about how _all_ the children of this particular orphanage usually had no family what-so-ever.

"They're d-dead?" he asked slowly, sitting back down.

"It was caused by someone driving under the influence. I can't recall the sentence that the person received for such a crime, but it won't do you much good given that he died a good while back. Either way, it was a blessing that you survived the crash."

"I was with my parents when they died?"

"The papers mentioned an infant was with them, and I doubt reporters would make something like that up. If I'm remembering right, one of the officers or either the medics interviewed said something along the lines of its being 'a miracle that the child survived the crash' since your mother was sitting in the backseat with you. She looked as if she had been trying to protect you, almost as if she knew something was going to happen. Your father died instantly, but your mother died in the hospital a few hours later, I think. Some said that she was clinging onto life to make sure her child was safe."

The woman started to type something up on her computer.

"She had psychic abilities?" asked Mimi.

"Maybe, or either her sixth sense had kicked in." She started to scroll through some files. "Everyone has the ability to use such a power, but not everyone is able to actually use them, I've always felt."

"So…my mother saved my life?"

"It really looks that way." The woman frowned. "Darn, looks like I can't find it."

"Excuse me, but what are you looking for?"

"Well, um…Mimi," it hit the woman that she didn't know the girl's full name, "I was looking for the news article about his parents' deaths. I can't seem to find it, but I'm sure that the library might have a copy of it. It happened sometime back in April of 1990."

The woman put the computer into standby mode, and went back to Koushirou, who had been quiet for a good while. "You were originally sent to the Tokyo Metropolitan Child Guidance Center after your release from the hospital, due to where your parents lived, but given the situation, you were transferred here. At first, we thought that we would never find a family for you, until I remembered a couple who came in almost every week in search of a child to foster or possibly adopt, but seems that every time they were willing to adopt, turns out a relative was found, and the child ended up being sent to live with said relative. It's a rarity for this particular orphanage, but in their case, seems the actual child they would show an interest in kept lucking out."

"My adoptive parents?"

"Yes."

"I thought that with adoptions, you place orphan children with blood relatives anyway," Mimi pointed out.

"Yes, that is usually the case. We always search for family first but we were having trouble finding one for him. As I mentioned earlier, Miki-san grew up in an orphanage herself. Her parents and full background is unknown."

"How come she was left at an orphanage?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that one. I honestly don't know, and it's not listed here. You could always try going to the Tokyo Metropolitan Child Guidance Center and ask there. All cases start off there."

"There was nobody on my father's side who could take me in?"

"Well, your father's parents had passed away many years ago and your father had no siblings or any other close family. We couldn't even find an aunt or an uncle, but we did manage to find someone coincidentally. The person we found was Mr. Izumi."

"Wait, do you mean that he's related to me by blood?"

"Yes, he is. He was a _distant_ cousin of your father's. When we first confronted the Izumis with this, Mr. Izumi mentioned how he knew of your father and that he'd married, but nothing else. He didn't even know that he'd died _or_ that he'd had a child. We were all very surprised when we found out that Mr. Izumi was a relative of yours and was very willing to take you in.

"The two had been looking to adopt a child for a long while at the time. I'd say at _least_ two or three years. See, before getting you, they were registered foster parents and would foster children regardless of the child's background. Mrs. Izumi would even volunteer here on Saturdays and Sundays. After they were blessed with you, they stopped fostering children. You should've seen the looks on their faces when they found out that you were going home with them."

"Wow, I never realized I was that important to them," Koushirou said in amazement, 'but I still wish they would've told all of this to me directly. Why did they keep it secret from me?' He shook off that particular thought. "Mitsuishi-san, I know this may come across as an odd request, but do you have any photos of my biological parents?"

"I'm sorry. I don't have anything like that. We have nothing left back by them, and that includes photos. If it helps any, you could always try to find some information or class photos of them from the university they attended. They were both top students of their class." Mrs. Mitsuishi stood.

"Okay, I will." Koushirou stood up, Mimi took suit. "What year did they graduate from Toudai?"

"Let's see, both were postgraduate students at the time, so they would have been in…the Class of '85…"

"Mitsuishi-san, first, I would like to apologize for the inconvenience and my outburst earlier…"

"It's no problem, Mr. Izumi."

"Also, I would like to thank you for all of the help you have given me. It is because of you that I now know of my biological parents and have an idea as to what they were truly like."

"Well, in a way, I was at liberty to share this information with you. I was technically obligated to. With these types of cases, the files aren't sealed off."

"Meaning?" asked Mimi.

"I think Mitsuishi-san means that I could come and get this information at any time I wanted, as I had the right to."

"That's correct."

"It still would be nice to know what my parents looked like."

"I know this isn't going to help much, but all you have to do is look in the mirror. You resemble your mother, especially with your red hair and those plain, black eyes of yours, I think, belong to your father. The main difference, though, is that your mother wore glasses and you obviously don't."

Koushirou forced on a partial smile. He didn't find that response all that flattering, as he would rather see it for himself. "Thank you very much," Koushirou bowed.

"Y-yes, thank you," Mimi bowed as well.

With that, Mrs. Mitsuishi showed them back to the lobby, where they thanked her again and walked out of the building, only in silence. They just continued their brisk walk, Mimi had no idea where her friend was headed, but just followed along anyway. Koushirou still had one question that remained unanswered that he knew Mrs. Mitsuishi couldn't answer. 'Why were they so eager to adopt a child and what made them foster children to the extent that Mitsuishi-san was implying?'

"Koushirou?"

"Oh, what?"

"I-I'm sorry about what happened to your parents," Mimi spoke up, not knowing exactly what to say. She just felt obligated to say something.

"It's okay Mimi-san. I am just glad that I found out the truth about them. I can now rest a little better knowing."

"Why do I have this feeling that there's more to this situation than you're letting on? Is being adopted the reason you seem to be jealous of your future brother or sister?" The question caught the young computer whiz off guard and _definitely_ wasn't expecting that type of a question from the girl. "I can tell that you're bothered by the Izumis having another child. The fact that you're willing to move out showed me that."

"Move out? I'm not planning on moving out…yet."

"But you made that random statement about how the place is going to be crowded in about a year and how you'd like to get in contact with your real parents."

"I just feel like I'm going to be in the way and want to give them their space which would be perfect for the new addition." He sighed. "I'm not even their real son, why would they bother with me when they can have a child more worthy of carrying on the family name of Izumi?"

"Izumi Koushirou!" Mimi bellowed, her hands on her hips. Koushirou stopped walking while other people passing them by glanced over at the two curiously. "You stop that right now! Mr. and Mrs. Izumi love you very much and having a baby is _not_ going to change the 15 years of love they've shown for you! I would expect this attitude from a child, but not someone _your_ age!"

"You don't know what it feels like!" Koushirou nearly shouted at her, irritated by her criticism of him. "You don't know what it's like knowing that you're in a family that you don't even fully belong to! You don't understand the mixed feelings that I constantly have because I appreciate them and all they do for me, but then feel a bit of resentment towards them for not _telling_ me that I'm not really their son and then feeling like a spoiled ungrateful brat for feeling any type of negativity towards them at all! And now, all of a sudden, they're going to have a child of their own-a_ real_ child for them. One who will know and understand his place along with his _real_ mother and father. I'm not even a real Izumi…I only have the name!" After saying all of that, his heart ached. He didn't even understand what had come over him to even say all that he had. He just felt emotionally drained. "_sorry for yelling, it's not your fault_…" he muttered, quietly.

"No. I-I'm sorry," Mimi hastily apologized. "You're right, maybe I don't understand and I'll never be able to, but I do know one thing…"

"What's that?"

"I know that you should just give it a try and stop jumping to the conclusion as to what your life will be like with the upcoming addition. It would make Mrs. Izumi very happy. Having a child is one of the most important and meaningful times in a woman's life. Try to be happy for her and quit being so selfish over it."

He took in her words, and slowly nodded. He knew deep down that she was right, but he still couldn't help but feel a bit insecure over the entire situation. There was still that tiny fact that he wasn't really the Izumis' son and the fact that they still hadn't told him about it. They did take him in, they did take care of him, and he really did appreciate that, but at the same time, he still felt out of place when around them and as the years were going by, he was feeling more and more awkward around them.

The two continued their walk and ended up back at the Hikarigaoka Station. Koushirou mapped the route, laughing a bit at the irony of the situation of when he and the others were trying to get back to Odaiba from Hikarigaoka before, and missed their stop to transfer and ended up in Shinjuku. After mapping the route he told Mimi, "Let's make sure we're awake this time so that we can make our transfer." Mimi laughed a bit.

When the two finally arrived back in Odaiba, it was nearly 15:00 (3:00). Mimi hadn't even noticed. After exiting the station, she stretched her arms out due to sitting for so long, even if the train ride was only about an hour. "Here we are back in Odaiba. What should we do next?"

"Well, I wanted to go to Toudai and Odaiba University to learn more about my birth parents," Koushirou simply stated. 'I really wish I wasn't so curious about them now, but I mustn't share what I'm doing with mother or father. It'll probably make them feel bad.'

"But aren't all of the schools closed on Sundays?"

"It shouldn't be. I'm sure the campus is open all year round, and some students are still studying or participating in club activities, even though most universities are already in their spring vacation."

"Oh." She looked down at her watch. "But, um, I…"

"You don't have to come along if you don't want. I know you're anxious to get away from me," he told her half-jokingly.

"No, that's _not_ true!"

To Koushirou, she'd obviously missed the joke. "Well, you _are_ coming across as a person who has something else to do."

"Well, I _was_ planning on going to…"

"…the party Sora-san is throwing?"

"W-well y-yeah."

"No surprise there. I knew about it too. Taichi-san invited me. I _was_ planning on going until, well, you know. You should really go, though. Your friends will be there and you really shouldn't waste your time on me…"

"_Waste_ my time? I _chose_ to spend my time with you! Just for that, _we're_ going to that party later! Now, since we're back in Odaiba, why don't we head over to Odaiba University and then we can go to Tokyo U and while we're at it, we can go by Odaiba Elementary to learn more about your real mother! They're bound to have photos of past instructors."

"That's a great idea, Mimi-san! Odaiba Elementary School probably _would_ have something like that! I didn't even think of that!"

"Let's go see what we can find out!"

Koushirou smiled…it was a genuine one. "Right."

The two started to walk away from the station, when Koushirou asked, "Mimi-san, are you _sure_ you don't want me to take you to the party? I'm sure that going there would be a lot more interesting and fun than spending time gathering information with me."

"I'm sure. We can go later, now let's head over to Odaiba University since it's the closest."

'Hmm, if going to the party, I should definitely apologize to Sora-san for the late arrival, but there's still that chance that we might not make it, due to how adamant Mimi-san is on going to all three places,' Koushirou concluded in thought. He then remembered something else. "Oh, Mimi-san, I forgot to apologize for earlier."

"What for?"

"For when I ignored you. I'm sure that's what caused you to leave in the first place. It hit me while riding back that that was why you probably left."

"I was just hungry and thirsty."

"Oh yeah, it was getting late. Well, after Odaiba University, if we don't make it to the party, since I doubt we'll be able to head back to in-land Tokyo to go to Toudai, I will treat you to a meal."

"Y-you don't have to."

"No, I insist. I really want to, given the day and all." Mimi had no idea what he had meant by that, but nodded. 'This is a nice day to me, and it's our last free full day off, also, the company of Mimi-san made it even nicer. I should do something for her to show my appreciation.'

The two then went back to the station to pick up a map to find a route to Odaiba University…

Author's Notes

Note 1: Toudai is short for Tokyo Daigaku = Tokyo University. I had Koushirou and Mimi react in the way that they did due to my, at the time, having started up with the series Love Hina. In a way, it was used as an inside Love Hina joke. The main character, Keitaro, was trying to get into Tokyo University, but he kept failing the university's entrance exam. I just assumed that getting into the school was very difficult, given the way Love Hina made it seem.  


* * *

Note 2: The only thing I know is that Mr. Izumi and Koushirou's father are distant relatives. They never once explained how, but I'm going with the whole cousin scenario. It makes the most sense, thinking about it.

Fic Chapter Changes

The first change has a lot to do with a line that was dropped. The line, "Wow, you were here the entire time," said Koushirou in astonishment, was originally, "Here I am looking all over for you, and you were here the entire time!" Doesn't that sound a bit more aggressive and confrontational than the other line? I felt that this line was much too hostile sounding given his character. He almost came across as angry to me, which is another reason why I changed it as I prefer surprise over that. Besides, later on, Koushirou _will_ end up showing intentional anger and lash out and also an emotionally-driven type of anger.

Mrs. Mitsuishi's job at the university that Koushirou's birth parents attended was changed slightly. I wrote that she was an English Language Teacher at the university. Originally, I had that she was just a student teacher. I also gave the woman a bit more concrete background.

I added in the year that Koushirou's birth parents were married (1987), like it says for the original Adventure series. Originally, to keep Koushirou's mother's maiden name, I wrote that his parents had never wed, but decided to stick to canon for this rewrite. To keep that Koushirou's mother didn't change her family name, I just wrote that she kept her maiden name and changed the conversation up a little bit to compensate.

I dropped a flashback. The flashback was from chapter 1 when they were first given the assignment and how Koushirou was talking to their teacher in hopes of getting out of doing the assignment. Mimi was thinking back to it after Koushirou mentioned how long he'd known of his being adopted. Originally for that scene, which I failed to mention, iirc, was Ishidzuka mentioning how he'd looked back on older assignments dealing with family and how Koushirou's work was always less than satisfactory.

I changed Koushirou's mother from being from Odaiba to Shinagawa. I get the impression that during her time, Odaiba wouldn't have been very residential yet.

I gave a name to the children's hospital that Koushirou's mother volunteered at and added that she volunteered at orphanages as well.

I changed the given name of Koushirou's birth father from Hiroaki to Satoru, mainly for its meaning. Hiroaki was a random name I chose. Satoru, depending on the characters used, can mean "fast learner" and "knowledgeable". Oh, and everything mentioned about Koushirou's biological father is true (the name is still made up though, as it was never given). He was a genius mathematician who was a lecturer "at the university", but I don't think it was ever mentioned as to _which_ university. There was virtually no information given on his mother, other than his father married her in '87.

For the record, there is no such place as Odaiba University.

This is just a comment about the orphanages and adoption agencies. They do exist in Japan and all that, but to my knowledge, there are none in Hikarigaoka (there is one in Nerima, though) and there isn't one in Odaiba.

Originally, I had that Koushirou's biological mother grew up at the Odaiba Adoption Agency and for Koushirou to go there to get more information on her, but instead, I had Mrs. Mitsuishi mention the Tokyo Metropolitan Child Guidance Center, which _is_ a real place.

I added in a bit more dialogue between Koushirou and Mimi when leaving the orphanage. I had Koushirou express his feelings and doubts more than I did for the original version of this fic. Originally, Koushirou came across more so like a child who didn't want to lose his parents' attention to a new sibling, but as you can see for this, it's a combination of things making it more difficult for him. This was what I was originally trying to convey, but, for the original, with the wording, I'm sure most got the impression that he was acting like a jealous sibling.

I had Koushirou more willing to attend Sora's party compared to how I originally wrote this.

The ending was changed. This does occur in the story, the dinner thing; I just have him asking her in this chapter as opposed to a future one.


	12. 12  Sora's Party

Hi again everyone. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. As you saw, Koushirou has mixed feelings, but his curious side is slightly taking over. Anyway, as mentioned earlier, this chapter focuses on everyone else, which will also finally bring in the rest of the younger group (Takeru, Daisuke, Ken, and Iori). This chapter also features Koushirou and Mimi, but very briefly, so enjoy this filler chapter which I feel is probably one of the weakest chapters of this story.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 12: The Other Chosen Children…

It was a little past 14:00 (2:00), and there was still no sign of Mimi at the luxurious, futuristic, dimly-lit Ageha Dance Club, the music blasting loudly. Sitting at one of the bars, drinking soft-drinks, was Yuuko, Ayame, and Chinatsu. All three girls had chosen to sit at that particular spot since it was closest to the club's entrance.

"Oh, I guess Mi-chan couldn't make it," Yuuko whined, while scanning around.

"I guess not," Chinatsu agreed while drinking some soda, "but it is still a little early."

"It's not fair!" wailed Yuuko. "I wanted her to see those admirers of hers make fools of themselves, especially since one of them obviously blabbed - probably Yuuji-kun - and more stupid supporters of Mi-chan showed up besides the _main_ four idiots!"

"Oh, you mean more than usual?"

"Not to worry, Yuuko-chan, I brought along my digital camera, and Chinatsu-chan has a camera phone."

"Yeah, I've already gotten pictures of them. The digital camera is for our main four, who still haven't shown up yet."

Yuuko was giddy. "This ought to be really good!"

"Right at that moment, a loud boy with spiky maroon hair, wearing a bright red jacket, baggy blue-jeans, a plain blue t-shirt, and white sneakers walked in through the club doors. "The party can _really_ start now that the handsome Motomiya Daisuke is here!"

With the boy was a quiet looking girl with short brown hair wearing a faint pink blouse, a yellow skirt, and black dress shoes. "Daisuke-kun, calm down," Hikari told him calmly, even though over the loud music, it was doubtful anyone had even heard Daisuke.

"Eh…gomen gomen," he apologized.

Beside Hikari stood a tall, blonde boy wearing a white cap, a long sleeved yellow shirt, khaki pants, and sneakers. "Yeah, calm down. Don't make a scene. There are older kids here. We don't want them to think of us as a bunch of annoying grade school kids."

"Okay, okay, I'm just so excited and all fired up!" He started to move his body to the upbeat music. "I'm ready to have fun!" With that, Daisuke moved away from Takeru and Hikari, and spotted some of his friends from his Soccer Club. He went to join them.

"There's never a dull moment with Daisuke-kun around," Takeru laughed lightly.

"Yes, but you must admire him for that. He always seems to make people happy and bring out their good side."

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered. "S-so, Hikari-chan, would you like for me to get you something to drink or eat?" he asked her nervously.

Hikari smiled at the boy. "Oh, Takeru-kun, I can get my own drink, but you can come along with me, of course."

The girl started off, while Takeru let out a small sigh, and followed behind her to the bar that Mimi's friends were sitting at.

It was still pretty early, and guests were still arriving. There were students in elementary, junior high, and senior high school at the party. Yamato and his band arrived early to perform some of their songs, as Sora had asked for them to. They gladly accepted the offer. While playing, though, Yamato kept his eye out for Mimi. When he got the chance, he was going to join her.

More and more guests seemed to arrive, those the three girls knew of, and then those they had never seen before.

"Ichijouji-kun, Miyako-chan, Iori-kun, hi!" Sora greeted as she saw them enter.

"Hi Sora-san," all three greeted back.

"I'm very glad that you were able to make it. I've been trying my best to greet everyone who comes in, but I keep getting pulled away."

"That's okay, but I'm glad that I was able to come too," the tall, slim, dark-haired Ken responded. "I really do enjoy getting together with everyone. It's very relaxing."

"I'm glad that Sora-san decided to have a party where everyone was invited," Miyako said in excitement.

"Well, yes, this is pretty much a celebration for everyone, especially us third years that are still stuck in school, even though we already finished our entrance exams. It's very stressful at this time of the year."

"I am grateful that taking entrance exams aren't needed for junior high school," said Iori.

"Not unless you do what senpai did," Miyako pointed out.

"I really do respect Jou-san, but I do not feel that I will attend a private school once entering junior high and just stick with public school."

"Even during our first adventure together, Jou-senpai was always studying. Even after we returned from camp before we returned to fight the Dark Masters, Jou-senpai was attending juku and studying, but that's just like him. He always works hard on his school work since he wants to become a doctor." Sora smiled at the thought of Jou finally achieving that dream. "Now, let's not worry about school or studying today. Please, enjoy yourselves and have fun. There's plenty to do around here."

The three nodded and went off to find something interesting to do. Iori spotted some fellow classmates of his, who of which he had invited, and went to join them.  


* * *

"I wish some nice, handsome guy would come over and ask me to hang with him," Yuuko complained while stuffing her face with cake.

"You aren't the only one," Ayame sulked while drinking. "A nice, handsome sophisticated boy would be nice."

"Like a high-school boy," Yuuko smiled dreamily.

"Yuuko-chan, we shouldn't get our hopes up," Ayame grumbled. "What are the chances of a high-school boy coming over here?"

Crestfallen, Yuuko sighed, "A _zillion_ to one!"

"There they are! There they are!" Chinatsu said while pulling on Yuuko's sleeve.

Yuuko started to look around frantically. "What? Did you see some cute boys?"

"Where, where!"

"No, something more amusing!"

The other two laughed along with Chinatsu, who saw Sora greeting the four male guests in the strange attire. She had given up on trying to understand the strange way some of the male guests were dressed, though, as there had been a few others dressed oddly, asking for "Mimi-chan".

"Look at Yuuji-kun! He's actually carrying an autoharp," Yuuko barked out, while holding her stomach.

"Oh man, his hair is an absolute _mess_! These four look the dumbest so far compared to the other few supporters of Mimi-chan." Ayame started taking photos with her fully-charged digital camera.

Chinatsu started taking pictures with her camera phone. She had made sure her slots were empty so that she'd be able to since she'd already taken photos of the other Mimi supporters that had randomly popped in. She pointed to the boy beside Yuuji. "He's not as bad looking as Tomokazu-kun!" Seki's hair was extremely messy, he was wearing a pair of glasses, which looked broken at the bridge, and along with that, atop his head was a pair of _square_ goggles.

Yuuko sniggered. "We _specifically_ said _round_ goggles!"

"The other two are with them," Ayame noted.

Misao had a briefcase in hand, a brown wig with unkempt hair, glasses, and actually had a pair of round goggles hanging around his neck. The only problem was that they were those small black ones that most anyone could find. Ukyo was carrying around a toy computer laptop, glasses with blue frames, normal hair, as he couldn't get his naturally shoulder-length straight hair wild like, and had an autoharp with him.

Noticing the four girls at the bar closest to the entrance, they made their ways towards them.

"Brace yourselves, girls," Chinatsu whispered to the other two.

"Where is Mimi-chan?" demanded Seki.

"Mimi-chan, I dressed up for you!" Yuuji called out loudly over the music.

"Why don't you guys back off," Misao told his friends. "We _all_ know Mimi-chan likes me best, and that she'll like me even more once she gets a good look at me."

"No she won't! Mimi-san will more than likely go for me, since I'm wearing glasses," argued Ukyo.

"But _I _have an autoharp!"

"It's _so_ obvious that my dear Mimi-chan likes sophisticated looking men," Misao told the three smugly.

"No way! _I'm_ the real man around here!" Yuuji retorted.

Misao held up his briefcase. "But I'm carrying this! That shows I'm a real business man!"  


* * *

'No it doesn't,' all three girls thought in unison.  


* * *

"Calm down, boys," Ayame muttered.

The four stopped arguing with one another, and shouted to them, asking, "Where's Mimi-chan/Mimi-san!"

"We haven't seen her," Yuuko told them, "but we have seen more people like _you_ around."

Ignoring what the girl had said about other admirers dressed up to impress Mimi, Misao asked, "What do you _mean_ you haven't seen her?"

"There's a chance that she might not even show up," Chinatsu told them."

"Yeah, she went on a day trip with Izu-ooph," Yuuko started, but was interrupted by Ayame elbowing her hard in her side.

"Um, like Chinatsu-chan said, there's a chance that she might not even come."

All four boys nearly face-faulted from the response.

"Stop worrying," Yuuko smiled to them, "there _is_ a small chance that she may show up later. That's what she told us."

"For the sake of Mimi-chan, let's hope she doesn't," Ayame whispered to the other two.

"I know what you mean. I wouldn't want Mi-chan to see how pathetic these four are being. I didn't think they would've actually gone along with it, to be completely honest."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Ayame.

"How do you think Mimi-chan would react, though?"

"She would probably giggle all cute and sweet like, like she always does, which would make the boys want to become her slaves even more. Oh how I _wish_ I had that power!"

Chinatsu and Ayame laughed. After the four boys finally stopped harassing them for information on Mimi's whereabouts, Yuuko took notice of someone entering the dance club's doors.

"Oh my gosh!" Hearts formed in Yuuko's eyes. "Who is that handsome boy that came in with Kido-san!"

The two couldn't help but look and agree. "He's cute!"  


* * *

"Eh, I wonder where Sora-kun is," Jou stated after entering the dance club.

"I guess she's very busy," said Malissa.

Jou turned his attention to his other companion, giving him a warning look. "Do you think you can go without hitting on any girl here?"

"Let me think about that for a moment…No!" Eijiro laughed.

'Why am I not surprised…'

"You actually expect me to? How can I _not _when there are a lot of cute girls here, like Mimi-chan?"

"Eh, let's go," Jou grabbed Malissa's hand, "let's not stick around here with him. Who knows what's going to happen with all these girls around."

"R-right."

The two decided to get some drinks and snacks, but along the way, the two grew a bit disturbed over the strangely dressed boys walking around with goggles, glasses, and other wild attire carrying around, "I love Mimi" signs on them. 'Cosplayers?' Jou just shook his head at it and stuck to the task at hand, but he did find these strangely dressed boys more disturbing than anything he'd ever encountered in the Digital World…

The party continued on, neither Mimi nor Koushirou showing up for it at all. Mimi's admirers stuck around for the entire party, of course, in hopes of Mimi showing up. Ayame managed to get plenty of photos of Mimi's main four admirers, while Chinatsu managed to get photos of others who obviously heard of the leaked news on her camera phone. When not taking photos, the girls enjoyed themselves immensely, especially when they were approached by some first year boys from Odaiba High School.

Eijiro, of course, was approached by many girls at the party, all of which were drooling over him, when not gawking at the handsome, "Ishida Yamato" onstage. Malissa spent all of her time with Jou, mainly because she didn't know anyone else, aside from whom she'd met through karaoke. Although Sora and Taichi invited a lot of people, the majority of them attended public schools; Jou, Malissa, and Eijiro all attended a private school.

The party started to wind down at around 18:30 (6:30) and all of the guests had already left. Miyako, though, had remained behind to talk with both Sora and Taichi, who were making sure everything was in order.

"This was a really nice party! The music was great, especially when the Teenage Wolves were playing and the house music by the Deejay too! This place was perfect for it, especially since it's so big and you had a lot of guests! Too bad Chizu-nee couldn't come since she had to help out at the mart today."

"Now, Miyako-chan, was there any doubt with me being the second planner of it," Taichi asked the girl smugly.

"Thank you so much," replied Sora sarcastically, with a hint of playfulness in her voice, "I don't know _what_ I would have done without your help."

"Too bad we couldn't have had this party at night or used this club at night."

"In some ways, you and I may be on our spring breaks, just as Yamato-san, Jou-senpai, Malissa-san, and Eijiro-san, but we had those from junior high school and elementary school here who aren't technically on their breaks yet."

"Those are just minor details," he smirked. "I _definitely_ would've found a way. Hm, and speaking of kids, where's Hikari?"

"I thought I saw Hikari-chan talking with some boys, but then she left with Daisuke," Miyako explained. "I didn't get the chance to spend any time with her with all the activities in the club."

"Boys were hanging around Hikari?" Taichi crossed his arms stubbornly. "I don't like the sound of that at all."

"Taichi, you have to face facts," Sora told him gently, "your sister is growing up. She's about to enter junior high school after this term is up."

"I still don't like it," he muttered. He calmed down a bit, and realized he shouldn't worry over something like that or either grill Hikari later on about it. "So, Sora, want me to take you home?"

"No, that's okay. I have to turn the key back into the manager," Sora explained.

Taichi looked a bit put out. "Yeah, okay. Well, I should get going, and just to let you know, I'm still planning on having a barbecue party for us third years once spring vacation officially starts, and it'll be at _night_! I was thinking that if the weather is okay, we could have it at the beach."

"If you're worried about boys being around Hikari-chan at an afternoon party, what makes you think that it would be any better at night?" laughed Sora.

"You make a very good point, and the solution would be to have no kids her age allowed."

Sora gave Taichi an incredulous look, and put a hand on her hip. "Like that's going to work! They could still find a way to attend it, unless your mother forbids Hikari-chan to go."

"You like to ruin my fun, don't you?" the boy asked with his signature lopsided grin.

Smiling back teasingly, she responded, "Yes, I find it quite fun."

He stuck his tongue out at her, while Sora laughed at how goofy he was acting. "Well, I'm out of here. I might as well get home and find something to do with my evening. You know, since Koushirou and Mimi-chan never showed up, why don't we all get them, and go find someplace to hang out that's not _too_ expensive."

"I don't know…" Miyako started.

"Aww, come on. It'll give us _something_ to do."

"It actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. It _is_ sad that both missed my party."

"And if Miyako-chan and the others can't make it, we can just hang out, Sora," he added on slyly.

"I guess so." Sora shrugged. "I'll send you an e-mail or call you later to let you know what's up."

"Yeah yeah. See you later."

Taichi headed off, leaving the two girls behind.

"Strange about Mimi-oneesama. Do you think that their trip to Hikarigaoka took them longer than what they originally planned for?"

"It must have. Mimi-chan usually never misses a party or a gathering."

"I know, and this was one of the best ones. There was a really good turnout."

"I still really wish that she and Koushirou-kun could've made it, though."

"I noticed Yamato-san was asking about her whenever he wasn't performing. He kept asking if anyone had seen her every chance that he got."

"I didn't really notice," the tennis player admitted. "Hm, Miyako-chan, why don't we both go to the Nishimura home to see how she's doing?"

"Or, we could just send a text message or an e-mail."

"Or that," Sora laughed.

"If we go over there, we can tell her about the invite Taichi-san made and can _finally_ find out what's wrong with Izumi-senpai!" Sora laughed again at Miyako's nosiness, who couldn't help but laugh along. "Hey, what can I say? I really want to know."

"Okay, okay. You send her a message to let her know we're coming over, while I go turn this key in."

With that, Miyako sent out the message while Sora returned the key to the manager. She thanked him promptly, who was grateful that she and her guests had had a good time. After she was done, she met back up with Miyako, who explained that she hadn't received a message back from Mimi yet. They then both decided to catch the train back to Odaiba and just swing by there anyway.

Once exiting the building, they were surprised to see Taichi still there, but standing along with him was Yamato, Ken, and an exasperated looking Takeru. The four looked to have been in deep discussion over something.

"Wow, hi guys. I thought Sora-san and I were the only ones still around."

"Takeru-san was looking for Hikari-san," explained Ken. "We're trying to figure out where she could have gone."

"She left with Daisuke-kun and didn't even _tell_ me!"

"Aren't you over-reacting? What's wrong with her leaving with Daisuke?" asked Miyako.

"I don't know," Takeru answered the older girl. "I just figured that since we all came together, that we would all leave together."

"I suppose he's a bit bothered because she didn't let him know that she was leaving in general," Ken responded simply.

"They left hours ago," Miyako recalled. "They left round about the time Ken-kun and I saw Iori leave."

"That's what I told him."

"I guess they had something else more interesting to do, like Iori-kun and his classmates," Sora mentioned randomly. "Anyway, did you guys try checking at home for either of them or calling or sending a message using your mobile phone or D-Terminal?"

They all shook their heads.

"Oh yeah, I didn't really think of that," Takeru said with a nervous laugh.

"I'm surprised you didn't think to do those things first!"

"Sora-san, we better hurry if we want to go over to the Nishimura's."

"Hey, any idea why Mimi didn't show up?" asked Yamato.

"She had to go on a day trip. I guess she got back too late to come to my party."

"Yeah, if oneesama misses a get together then she _has_ to have a good reason for it."

With that, the group headed towards the station and caught the train back to Odaiba...  


* * *

Earlier that day at the party…

"Takeru-kun, where are you rushing off to?" asked Hikari.

"I was just going to go over some plays with a couple of the guys. I promised them that I would, even though it's kind of tough to talk in here with all this music," he laughed. "You don't mind, do you?"

"I was hoping to check out one of the other areas of the dance club together."

"Ah, we still can."

"That's true. Go on ahead."

With that, Takeru left to meet up with his basketball buddies whom he'd noticed.

'I shouldn't be too upset. They _are_ his friends after all, but he promised to spend time with me too. He's always so concerned about the team just because he's the star player and team captain.' She smiled, but was still disappointed some, but felt a bit disgusted over how selfish she was being. 'Well, Takeru-kun is very kindhearted, and I shouldn't be thinking ill of that.'

A bunch of boys approached Hikari, who knew her, since Takeru had left her. People had always assumed that both she and Takeru were an item since they were always seen spending time together. The boys were all trying to get her attention. Hikari didn't particularly care for that kind of attention and felt a terrible headache coming on due to how annoyed she was becoming over the current unwanted attention. The loud music wasn't helping her headache much either.

She walked away from the boys and found a small, vacant table to sit at, which had a lit candle in the center of it. At the table, she found Iori with some friends of his there, which consisted of a skinny girl about Iori's age with messy, yet pretty hair.

"Ah, Hikari-san. I didn't see you earlier. Have a seat."

"Hi there, Iori-kun. Thank you." Hikari greeted brightly.

"Who is that?" the girl with the messy hair asked.

"Eiji-san, Ikue-san, Shiko-san, Murai-san, Narumi-san, this is Yagami Hikari-san. She is an upperclassman and is about to graduate to Odaiba Junior High School."

"Cool!" the five said.

"Is there something wrong, Hikari-san?"

"No, not really. I'm just a little tired," she told the young martial artist.

"To be honest, I am very grateful for Sora-san inviting me and allowing my classmates to come along too, but there really isn't too much to do here. There is the possibility that we'll be leaving soon, but I've yet to see Sora-san again since we've arrived here."

"Yeah, I agree," Iori's friend, Narumi said. "I don't mind leaving, and when we do, we can go back to my place! We can watch movies!"

Everyone else reluctantly agreed with the pushy girl, except for one. The skinny, energetic girl seated beside Iori stood up. "No way!" the tomboyish girl named Eiji protested. "We can go on a hike since the weather is so nice today!"

A dark-haired, chubby boy spoke up next in agreement with Eiji. "A hike actually sounds like more fun than watching movies," Shiko said.

A tall slim, black-haired boy spoke up next. His name was Murai. "We could even go fishing if we pick the right place to go."

"Wouldn't it be nice to go swimming too?" Eiji added.

A petite-sized freckled-faced girl with long, wavy red hair spoke up next. She was very plain and ordinary looking, just like Eiji, the only difference being their hair colors. "That _does_ sound like fun," Ikue mumbled. "This is the perfect day to go hiking or swimming, like Eiji-chan said."

The other girl who had suggested they go back to her home shook her head, her long, shiny, bouncy, beautiful brown hair flowing down her back, which matched her clear, brown eyes. "No way!" Narumi objected. "Eiji-chan, you are _such_ a tomboy! I do _not_ want to mess up my pretty dress and what about my hair? Hiking and swimming would be terrible for it! Doing things like that is so unlady like, and anyway, it's still too cold to go swimming!"

"Aww, Narumi, lighten up!" Murai argued. "We just want to find something more interesting to do."

"This party is nice, like Iori-kun said, but it is getting a bit boring with all of these older kids around," Shiko said.

"Meh, ever since you spent all of last summer with your older sister, you've been acting all extra girly and boring," Murai complained.

"What have they done to you? You're trying to become a model like your sister?" asked Eiji.

"Hey, I just feel that it's time for us to grow up and to start acting like proper young men and proper young ladies!"

"Narumi-san, we're still ten and eleven years old!" Shiko pointed out. "We're still kids!"

"Hey, Iori hasn't said anything yet. What do you think we should do?"

"Well, um, Murai-san, I'm not exactly sure," Iori answered bashfully.

"Come on, Iori-kun," urged Eiji, "we know how you like hiking and swimming."

"It _does_ sound like it'd be fun given how warm it is today. It feels more like late April as opposed to late March, but, as Narumi-san mentioned, it is probably not wise to go out swimming this early in the season. Maybe we could head over to the park or go bike riding."

"So, all in favor of my idea raise your hands!" Everyone raised their hands, minus Narumi. "All opposed of going and would rather sit around the house just to watch television or movies, raise your hands!" Narumi raised her hand stubbornly. "Okay, Narumi-chan, it's five to one. We win! Watching movies inside is boring and if we _are_ going to be stuck inside, we could at _least_ play video games or something! So, are you coming with us?"

"Okay, fine, I'll go," she huffed, "but I'm not going to promise you that I'll have _any_ fun!"

"Okay everyone! Let's head back home and get our bikes and go riding!" Eiji instructed.

"I wish we could go camping," Ikue said.

"Too bad we're not on our spring holiday yet. Maybe we can plan a camping trip," Iori suggested.

"I _love_ camping!" Eiji cheered. "I can hardly wait for spring break now!" Narumi frowned. She hated doing "boyish" things ever since she learned how to be a proper lady from her older sister that previous summer. "I bet Narumi-chan wouldn't _want_ to come, since she's an _adult_," Eiji teased.

"I, of course, will come! I may be a sophisticated young lady, but I can handle one camping trip." In reality, the girl actually did enjoy bike riding, hiking, swimming, and camping, but felt that she had outgrown such activities.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, let's go guys. We still have the rest of the day to play."

Hikari dismissed herself from the group, and left them to discuss. The same boys that bothered her earlier, started to approach her again. She was tempted to go and tell Taichi about the persistent boys, but decided against it, as she saw him laughing along and having fun with his school and soccer club mates. She knew she had to stop being so reliant on her brother, but when it came to situations like this one, she knew that he would be best. In a way, she really wished that Takeru was still with her, but she noticed that he was still talking with his basketball buddies. She saw him gesturing as if making a slam dunk and then laughing.

She decided to do the one thing she felt she _could_ do…tell them to leave her alone, no matter how rude she may end up coming across. She knew that the normality to this type of a situation was to ignore those who bothered her or was interested in her, but for once, she just couldn't take it, and her head was starting to throb.

"I'm sorry," she apologized sweetly, "but I am not in the mood to dance or anything at the moment."

"Aww, come on, Hikari-chan, please dance!" one of the boys begged.

"You're way too beautiful to stand around by yourself," another one said.

"No thank you. I really don't want to."

Before either of the boys could respond to her rejections, they heard someone coolly say, "Didn't you hear her? She doesn't want to be bothered."

"Motomiya!" one of the boys identified.

"The one and only," he smiled. "Now why don't you all just leave her alone?"

"Sorry," one of the other boys apologized. "We just hate seeing Hikari-chan by herself."

"Believe me, I don't mind."

The group of boys walked off in annoyance. They all knew not to mess with Daisuke, as he was pals with Taichi and both together could probably really hurt them if they were caught bothering Hikari.

"Are you alright, Hikari-chan?"

"Thank you, Daisuke-kun. I'm fine thanks to you. I thought they would never leave me alone. I know they mean well, but I'm not in the mood to party right now."

"Some people just don't get it," Daisuke randomly stated thinking back to when he was younger and would persistently pursue Hikari.

Hikari left Daisuke, and found a place to sit down again. She felt both annoyed and stressed. She saw Daisuke walk off with some girls and boys from their class, talking with them, laughing, and just having fun. She was surprised that "Ichijouji-kun" hadn't joined him, but figured that he was in some other part of the huge facility and just missed one another. One thing Hikari noticed about Daisuke was that he could always find a way to have fun and make the people around him happy. He had a warm demeanor to him.

Hikari noticed Takeru again, who looked to be, once again, laughing over something. For some unusual reason, even though earlier she'd told herself that she wouldn't think anything of it, the scene upset her. In a way, it had been a while since Takeru had carried on like that with her. Their conversations were usually quite serious and not all that playful. Takeru was a nice, happy-go-lucky boy and a great friend, but he seemed to have a whole different personality whenever around her. It was nice that Takeru was so serious and mature, but it wasn't good to be that way _all_ the time. She couldn't recall a recent time where Takeru had made her laugh.

The two were a lot alike and sometimes she found herself growing bored with Takeru _because_ of their similarities, but she was still inexplicably drawn to him and _did_ seem to have some type of feelings for him. Unlike Daisuke, Takeru wasn't persistent with trying to get with her, but even she realized Daisuke had eased up a lot from their younger days. He didn't act like that much anymore, but he was still his same, playful, friendly, energetic self and his crush on Hikari was still pretty much apparent.

She stood. Hikari was ready to leave, especially since most of her female friends were off with other guys, her male friends were busy talking with other people, and her fellow Chosen Children friends were nowhere to be found. Aside from those she'd come with, Sora, her brother, and Iori, she hadn't seen much of anyone else, not even Miyako. She held her head. 'I don't feel very well…' She started to wobbly make her way towards Takeru, but someone else caught her eye. "Daisuke-kun…" she uttered weakly.

He was still hanging around with a group of their classmates. Daisuke definitely wasn't shy, and was actually dancing with one of the girls. The song Yamato's band was playing was a fast one. You'd definitely never catch the boy moving to a slow song. "Too boring" he would say.

A couple of other guys joined in to talk with Daisuke and the girl. Hikari recognized all of them. She feebly made her way up to them.

"Hi," everyone greeted.

"Hi," she replied back plainly. Daisuke looked at her curiously.

The short dark-haired girl Daisuke had been dancing with noticed the somewhat somber look Hikari wore on her face. This girl's name was Romi, and she was known for her rhythmic dancing, as she took lessons. "Hikari-san, is something wrong?"

She put on a smile and told the girl, "No, I'm fine, but thank you for asking." Romi left it at that, but Daisuke wasn't fully convinced by it. He'd known Hikari for far too long. Her smile didn't seem genuine to him.

The other girl of the group, whose long hair was fixed up in the latest style, who was known to show off, which was no surprise to Hikari since she'd always been that way, was known as Tara. "Where's Takeru-kun?"

Another girl who had overheard Takeru's name, made her way up to the group. This girl was _very_ well known in their class, and it was extremely obvious that she liked Takeru, just like the majority of the girls of their year. Her name was Shigeko. Overall, the girl usually came across as being blunt and rude. "Ooh! I'm going to go see if Takeru-kun wants to spend time with me!"

She rushed off to go find Takeru, while Hikari held her head again. Daisuke noticed. He was certain that something was definitely wrong. "Hikari-chan?"

"I'm sorry. I'm fine, honest I am." She didn't want to be a burden to him.

"Hikari-chan…do you have a headache? Are you getting sick?" The boy had heard stories about how Hikari was when younger from both Taichi and Takeru, like the time she had a fever and passed out because she didn't want to bother anyone over it.

"W-well, it's just a small one," she told him quietly.

"I think you should go home and rest," Daisuke told her urgently.

"W-well, maybe I should…"

"I can take you home if you would like," the soccer player offered.

"No, don't do that. I'll be fine."

'Selfless as always.' A determined look made its way to Daisuke's face. "I don't mind. Let's go!" Hikari felt it would've been pointless to argue with him, and just nodded. "Hey, do you want to go get Takeru?"

"No, that's okay. He's busy right now. I wouldn't want to worry him."

The two left, which was a little while after Iori's group had left.

"Daisuke-kun," Hikari started while heading to the station to catch the train back to Odaiba, "thank you for offering to take me home."

"It's no problem."

"What about your friends, though? Weren't you going to go back and talk to some of those from your club?"

"Don't worry about them. They would've only talked about having a practice game anyway. You aren't feeling well. It's more important that you get back okay," Daisuke told her. 'I wouldn't want to disappoint Taichi-senpai if something happened to Hikari-chan.'

Hikari smiled weakly to him. During the walk and the eventual train ride, Daisuke seemed to keep making jokes or trying to do something to get her to smile, which he succeeded in doing. It was so effective, that her stress-filled headache had gone away.

"Daisuke-kun, thank you for cheering me up."

"No problem," he winked to her.

"I feel much better."

"Glad to hear it."

Once at their stop, the two got off and began to walk away from the station. It was a really nice day, and the slow walk seemed to bore Daisuke to Hikari. She knew that he probably would've rather been at the party than seeing her home.

"Daisuke-kun…I'm sorry," she suddenly apologized.

"What for?" he asked in surprise.

"I'm sorry for ruining the party for you. I hate to be a burden on anyone."

"You didn't ruin the party for me and you're _definitely_ not a burden." He stared up at the clear blue sky. "You're a selfless person, Hikari-chan, but if you're not feeling well, you shouldn't keep it to yourself. We all care about you, and would hate for something bad to happen to you." He looked over at her and gave her a thumbs up with a wink and a grin. "You're one of my best friends, I'd hate for anything to happen to you."

"Daisuke-kun…"

"I don't mind this walk, as long as you're better, it doesn't matter."

'He _has_ really matured since we were younger. I can't really explain it or put my finger on it, but he really has. It's like in some ways he's grown up, but he still has his same, easygoing, optimistic, simple-minded personality. I truly understand why he was suited to have the Digimental of Friendship,' Hikari concluded. "Daisuke-kun, instead of going home, since we have a little bit of daylight left, would you like to go someplace else instead?"

"Like where?"

"I don't know, maybe a game center."

"Only if you want to."

She smiled and nodded. "I feel 100% better, thanks to you, and I would like to."

"Okay! Let's go! There are some games I'm dying to play that I wanted to challenge Takeru to!"

"I guess we could head over to Decks Tokyo Beach of Venus Fort…."

"Oh, yeah! I love that mall for the three floors of arcade games!"

Hikari wasn't much of a gamer, but knew Daisuke was. He and Takeru played video games all the time. She and Ken usually always just watched them go at it. With that, the two headed to Venus Fort…  


* * *

Over at the Nishimura home, after Miyako and Sora had split from the rest of the group…

"I hope it was okay to come over here, especially since she still hasn't answered your message and neither did your message to Koushirou-kun while riding over here."

"I hope she's actually home," Miyako said while ringing the bell.

The two heard a young voice ask who it was, and Miyako answered. They heard the doorknob turn, and the owner of said voice rushed out to hug them. "Miya-neechan, Sora-neechan!"

"Hi there, Isako-chan," Sora greeted. "Is Mimi-chan home?"

An older woman came to the door before Isako could respond. "Yes, she's home," she replied distantly.

"Good evening, Mrs. Nishimura," both girls greeted.

"Did you say that Mimi-chan was home?"

"Yes, come on in." The girls entered and Mrs. Nishimura closed the door behind them.

"So, where is Mimi-chan? Is she around?"

"She seems to have locked herself in her room," Sué told them sadly. "She almost seems depressed over something."

"_Depressed_? Mimi-chan?"

'Oneesama is upset? Could something have happened with Izumi-senpai?'

"I'm not sure what to do with her. We came home and found her that way." Sué was a bit distraught, as she'd never encountered Mimi without her usual optimism and friendly, warm smile. "When we _first_ got here, she was in the bath, and it seemed that it took her a long while before she left it. I did keep checking on her and asking what was wrong after she'd left the bath and went into her room, but she kept insisting that it was nothing and that she was just tired, but I know she's lying. I could tell by her voice that she was trying _not_ to cry."

"This is very serious. Mimi-chan usually isn't the type to get really upset over something, unless death is involved…or when she's overly frustrated over something."

"I think I might just give her mother a call to see if she has any suggestions on what to do when Mimi-chan is feeling down. She would know how to deal with her better than I would." She turned to her daughter. "Isako, go tell Mimi-chan that her friends are here."

"Alright, mama!"

The girl ran off to Mimi's room and knocked on the door.

"Neechan, Sora-chan and Miya-chan are here!"

The brown haired girl, who had been lying on her bed, clinging onto Koushirou's jacket for reasons unknown to her, sat up in her dark room, rubbing her tear-filled eyes. She didn't feel like socializing with anyone. "Isako-chan, I'm not feeling well."

She kept begging Mimi to come out, or even open the door, but it was no use. Isako failed, and headed back to her mother, Sora, and Miyako.

"Is she going to come down?" asked her mother.

Isako shook her head. "First Kou-niichan is sad and now Mi-neechan is sad."

"Isako, your father is in the kitchen; ask him to prepare a snack for you. I'm going to call Satoe-san and hope she's around. It should be morning right about now over there."

"Miyako-chan and I should get going ourselves."

"We'll see you later."

With that, the two girls left the big house.

"How could one trip affect her like that?"

"That's what _I'd_ like to know, and it's strange that neither one of them has sent a message back with at least an apology for missing the party. Koushirou-kun would've at least done that given how he is. I say we go pay him a visit. He probably knows what's going on! I've never seen Mimi-chan like this before in all the years I've known her."

When the two got to the Izumi home, they saw a police motorcycle parked in front of the apartment complex. The two didn't think anything of it, and just figured that someone called for something trivial, like maybe a lost pet. The two girls were surprised to find a young, female cop exiting the Izumi's apartment when they were about to knock on the door. The woman smiled at them and left.

"Remember, anonymous!" Koushirou called to the officer. "Keep us both _anonymous_! _Please _make sure they remember that!"

The lady nodded, and continued on. Both Sora and Miyako gave Koushirou a questioning looking. "_Yes_, that was a police officer," Koushirou told the two irritably.

"No kidding," Sora sarcastically muttered.

"Izumi-senpai, they finally caught you," joked Miyako, who was trying her best to ease the thick tension that seemed to form the moment Koushirou had opened his mouth. "They finally caught you hacking your way into secret government files!"

Both girls laughed, but Koushirou just remained distant. Miyako knew that whenever she joked about that, Koushirou would usually laugh along. He never denied it, which always made her a _tad_ bit suspicious of him, but she always dismissed it. She was expecting him to say something like, "Not so loud, Miyako-kun, they might hear you!"

"Oh-kay…" Miyako abruptly stopped laughing. The tension was making her feel even more uncomfortable.

Koushirou, routinely, stepped aside to let them in and closed the door behind the two. They took their shoes off at the genkan and entered the home fully and headed straight to the boy's room. "Where are Mr. and Mrs. Izumi?" asked Sora.

"Out," he answered in slight annoyance. "Is there something you need?"

Sora was taken aback from the boy's tone. He'd never spoken to her in such a way before. "Koushirou-kun…"

"Senpai, don't get all cranky and don't get mad at Sora-san!" argued Miyako. "We're here because of Mimi-sama and we want to know why that police officer was here!"

"What's going on with the police is none of your business, and if you want to know what's bothering Mimi-san, then you should go ask her yourselves."

"We tried sending both you and Mimi-chan messages, but didn't get a response, so Miyako-chan and I went over there, and it seems she's feeling terrible." Sora looked away from Koushirou, her heart aching some over what she got out next. "What did you do to her?"

Koushirou grew angered, and shouted to her, "I didn't do a _damn_ thing to her!"

"I-Izumi-senpai…why are you acting this way towards us?" Miyako asked, almost wanting to cry herself. "We're concerned about her and she won't even talk to us."

"Then don't expect anything more from me!" he snapped at her. He noticed the looks on their faces. They actually looked frightened of him. He sat down in his computer chair and frowned. "I'm very sorry you two. I'm a little edgy right now and I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you two. I'm also very sorry for missing your party, Sora-san."

'This is a little better. _This_ is the Koushirou that I know.' She waved her hand. "Th-that's okay. So why are you edgy?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't _really_ say," he quietly responded. "If Mimi-san doesn't wish to discuss it, then _I _really shouldn't. It wouldn't be fair to her."

"Did something happen in Hikarigaoka?"

Koushirou gave Sora a look, his eyebrow arched. "How did you know about Hikarigaoka?"

"Mimi-sama told us that she was going there with you today, but didn't say much more other than that."

"So, did something bad happen in Hikarigaoka, like Miyako-chan said?"

"No, something _almost_ happened here in Odaiba after we returned. We had one more errand to run and then we were going to head over to your party, but seems things didn't turn out that way," he told them. 'What if I wouldn't have made it in time? I don't even want to _think_ about that!'

The two girls looked to one another in extreme confusion. None of what Koushirou was saying was making complete sense, which made them even _more_ curious. Before either could ask anything else, Mr. and Mrs. Izumi walked in, and noticed Koushirou's bedroom door was open.

The boy stood up and rushed out to see his parents. Sora and Miyako followed behind him. "Hi, welcome back," Koushirou said to the two, as if nothing had been wrong.

"Hi there son," Mr. Izumi greeted. "Hi there Miyako, Sora."

"Good evening, Mr. Izumi, Mrs. Izumi," both greeted back.

"How was your study date today with Taichi-kun and the others at his place today?" asked Mrs. Izumi.

'Study date at Taichi's? What's she talking about?'

Koushirou noticed the looks that both Sora and Miyako had, and felt it would've been _safer_ to get them out of there before they got him into trouble.

"Um, we studied a lot!" Koushirou told her anxiously. "I'm sure that I will ace whatever exam that my instructors throw at me and I'm ready to take my entrance exams thanks to Taichi-san, Sora-san, and Yamato-san."

Mrs. Izumi smiled. "My my, I'm sure after all of that studying, you must have worked up a big appetite. Would you all like some snacks?"

"Aw, mother, we're all very tired from the studying, and what we need now is rest. Sora-san and Miyako-kun were actually on their way out when you two came in."

They got the hint, and started to leave. Koushirou gave them an apologetic look and mouthed out "I'm sorry" before closing the door.

"Koushirou-kun is definitely hiding something," Sora murmured as the two walked away from the apartment complex.

"Why did he lie about where he was today? Why did he say he was at the Yagami's all day when he was really in Hikarigaoka?"

"That's a good question. My assumption is that maybe he didn't want his parents to know that he was going to spend the day there, but that doesn't make any sense since the Nishimuras knew about Mimi-chan going there today. It wasn't really a big secret."

"Maybe the Izumis don't like the idea of Izumi-senpai traveling outside of Odaiba by himself?"

Sora laughed. "Now I know that's not it. They didn't object to his returning to the Digital World when we had to go against the Dark Masters. Anyway, we should probably just go home and leave Mimi-chan and Koushirou-kun alone for now, but I'm more concerned over Mimi-chan. Maybe one of us could speak with her tomorrow."

"Maybe you're right, but I still don't like this."

"I don't like this any better than you do, but there isn't much more we _can_ do. Something obviously happened with Mimi-chan, and Koushirou-kun is covering for her since she didn't give us any information herself and how he's holding back on sharing because, 'it wouldn't be fair to her'."

"I hate secrets and being left out of things! They're my good friends! They're like my mentors and here they are keeping a big secret away from me!"

"Now now, Miyako-chan, maybe we could figure out some of this on our own."

"Well, so far, all we know is that whatever happened to her, happened after they got back here to Odaiba."

"Hm, that really doesn't tell us too much, but we can add in that the police are involved in some way."

"We're at a dead end already and we just started!"

"It would probably help if we knew _why_ Koushirou-kun had to go to Hikarigaoka in the first place. That could clue us in as to what all of this is fully about."

"The only way to find that out is if we ask him, but I have this feeling that he wouldn't tell us if we did. Even she didn't know why."

"Well, I'm sure she must know now, but for the moment, we should just stick with our original plan."

Miyako sighed. "Try to talk with her either tomorrow morning or after school. I'm going to be busy during lunch."

"Yeah, same here, especially since we third years are still doing graduation rehearsals before school every morning and there's no way I'll be able to see her at lunch because of a club gathering."

Their future tasks set, the two made their way home by bus…

Back in the Izumi home…

"They didn't have to leave so soon," Mr. Izumi said after Koushirou had shut the door.

"Oh, it was okay. They were both already on their way out anyway."

Koushirou left the two, and headed back to his room, shutting the door behind him. He sat down on the bed, resting his head in his hands, sighing heavily.

'She is worse off than I thought! _Man_, why do I feel this need to go over there and help her? What good would that do, though? She obviously doesn't want any help. I really have to talk to her about what happened today. It's starting to bother me now, more than what it did earlier. Yes, it bothered me, but it's like reality is starting to set in more now. I'm starting to feel _guilty_ over what happened.'

The boy lifted his head and scowled. He then started to punch his pillow in anger.

'I should have never gone there to begin with!' He punched the pillow harder to release his anger and sadness, while trying not to cry, but it failed, as the anguished tears poured out anyway. 'It's my fault! I should've been paying more attention to her! Why do people like that exist? Why do filthy disgusting bastards like that creep exist in this world? Why…'

Koushirou laid back down on his bed, his mind wandering back to all that had occurred after he and Mimi left the station after returning home to Odaiba…

Fic Chapter Changes

There are no author's notes this time, only chapter changes, and there weren't as many this time around. The main change in this chapter was the use of e-mail and telephones and messaging. When this was originally written, I'd totally forgotten that the kids had D-Terminals and didn't even think along the lines of text messaging or sending e-mail using a mobile/cell phone since the concept, at the time, was still pretty foreign to me.

There were only four Mimi admirers, not implied others running around.

Iori and his friends originally had a 'secret clubhouse' and stuff like that, but decided to drop it.

I had Miyako mention her sister and how sad it was that she didn't show up for the party. Originally, I'd forgotten all about her, even though I knew she was a third year with Taichi, Sora, and Yamato. Also, I changed how Miyako addressed her. I actually have no idea how Miyako addresses her older siblings, but, I like the sound of "Chizu-nee", which is why I used it.

Daisuke and Hikari didn't go to Venus Fort for the original version of this fic; instead, they went to the movies at a made-up theater. The arcade seemed more appropriate given the time restraints.

I added in Sora and Miyako being concerned about both Mimi _and _Koushirou. Originally, I only had the two girls curious about Mimi and not thinking anything of Koushirou. Thinking about it, I changed that because of how out of character that came across. I also had Miyako send Koushirou a message too as opposed to just Mimi. Originally, I didn't have her send a message out to anyone, for the reason stated in the first change here.

Other change concerned Sora's character. I had her more blunt and accusatory towards Koushirou originally. That didn't strike me as very "Sora" like.

I never had Koushirou apologize for missing Sora's party originally. I just had him apologize for being jerky towards Miyako and Sora.

The other change is that I set up the ending for a "flashback" chapter. I didn't do that originally.


	13. 13  Mimi's Close Call!

Hi again everyone. The ending was pretty interesting, eh? Something bad happened with Mimi and Koushirou is beating himself up over it. Well, this chapter shows exactly what happened. I guess one could say that this is a PG-13 chapter, compared to the previous ones. This will, like mentioned earlier, explain why Mimi is so down, but it's not going to be all that graphic. I definitely wanted some more conflict and tension between the two and this chapter actually leads up to it. Something interesting to note, I had actually written this chapter before the last one, and as for notes and changes…I don't think there'll be any relevant notes for it, mainly changes here or there.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 13: Mimi's Close Call!

Koushirou and Mimi were still in front of the station, trying to determine the best way of how to get to Odaiba University due to the fact that Tokyo University was a bit far from where they currently were.

"We should probably just take the bus," Koushirou suggested.

"But taking a taxi would probably be faster since it'd go straight there. No stops in between."

"That's true, but cab fare is a bit more expensive compared to the bus. At least we can show our student cards for the bus and get a lower price, just like with the trains. We can't do that with a taxi."

"But it'll be faster for us!" Mimi wanted to hurry and get the trip over with. "I'll be happy to put in some money for the fare if you promise to, too."

"Okay, if you insist. It'd only be fair."

"At least it'll be easier than hitching a ride," laughed Mimi.

*Koushirou laughed along, recalling how they, along with the others, were trying to get back to Odaiba from Hikarigaoka years ago due to sleeping through their stop to transfer, and ended up in Shinjuku with no money. This resorted in their hitchhiking. First up was Taichi, who had no luck and was nearly hit. When he and Jou tried, a taxi stopped for them, but realizing they had no money, kept going. Yamato tried, and a pretty woman stopped for him, but was much too shy to get into the car, which was a two-door convertible and lacked the space they needed. When Sora and Mimi tried, by holding up signs, a young man stopped for them due to how cute they were.

Koushirou and Mimi made their way to the section of the station where one could either catch a cab or either hop on one of the many buses. There were no taxis parked out front currently, and the ones that were around or pulling up had their "off duty" signs on, but some were driving by, so he put out his arm to try and wave down a taxi, but his efforts seemed to go unnoticed.

Mimi giggled playfully. "That's not going to get a taxi to stop for you."

"Okay, what do _you_ suggest then?"

She winked. "Just watch me."

The girl walked a little ways into the street. She put out her right arm, her thumb extended, while her left hand rested on her hip. She made herself look as graceful and as beautiful as possible. "Oh taxi, I need a ride," she said in a cutesy voice, while blowing a kiss.

Koushirou rubbed his eyes in disbelief as he saw all of these taxi cab drivers trying their best to stop for Mimi, and that included some the off-duty drivers. All of the men driving looked to have hearts in their eyes and spoke in a love-struck manner.

'It's a sin being this beautiful sometimes,' Mimi thought triumphantly.

"I'll be happy to drive you someplace!" the first driver said.

"You don't want to go with that driver, come with me instead!" the second driver said.

"I'll drive you around for free and then we can go out sometime!" the fourth, and the youngest looking, driver offered.

"I'm the fastest driver!" the third one said. "I'll drive all the way to China for you!"

"I'll drive you all the way to England if you would like, and I _know_ that's not possible, but I _would_ find a way!" said the fifth driver.

'These drivers are pathetic! It's just Mimi-san, it's no big deal.' He shook his head at the group. "Mimi-san, please choose one. They're starting to block traffic."

Sure enough, there were cars backing up behind them since they'd taken up most of the area to stop for Mimi. Each driver kept giving reasons as to why Mimi should choose him. In the end, Mimi chose randomly, and decided to go with the cab driver who had offered to drive them around for free.

The other drivers grumbled in annoyance and drove off. The taxi pulled up closer to the curb so that Mimi could get in. The lanky man, with the clean-cut hair actually stepped out of the car and opened the back passenger door for Mimi and let her in, completely ignoring Koushirou. After Mimi was in, he closed the door and rushed back to the driver's seat.

"Where would you like to go?" he asked, love-struck.

"Um…you shut the door on my friend."

"Friend, what friend?"

She pointed to Koushirou. "_That_ friend!"

"Oh…"

"Well, *push the button to open the door for him."

"It-it's broken," he admitted bashfully. "That's why I opened the door personally for you."

Mimi sighed, wondering why the man hadn't gotten back out to let Koushirou in. Realizing the man wasn't going to move, she opened the door for Koushirou from inside and he hopped into the back behind the passenger's seat, since Mimi had scooted over for him to get in. He looked annoyed, due to his being so blatantly ignored.

"So, where to?" he asked again, as if he'd been struck by one of cupid's arrows.

"Odaiba University, please."

"Yes, my beautiful goddess."

"Uh, ehehehe," the girl nervously laughed. She was used of boys her age acting that way towards her, but not adults.

Koushirou rolled his eyes over the way the guy was acting. 'Why do guys always act stupid whenever it comes to her? This guy is worse than Sukamon and Chuumon when they were asking Mimi-san for a date…'

The driver pulled off in the direction of Odaiba University. He kept smiling and glancing back at Mimi, even though it was a bit difficult since she was now sitting behind him. Either way, Mimi didn't even seem to notice.

"I see you're a university student. I've always found intelligent, university girls stimulating."

Koushirou felt a bit disturbed. 'What's with this guy? This is getting weird…'

"You know, I could drop your younger brother off someplace and then we could have a nice, lovely dinner at a nice, fancy restaurant in the area."

"Erm…_no_ thank you, and Koushirou is _not_ my brother." Mimi was starting to grow a bit unnerved by the man now. "He's the same age as I am, and we are _not_ university students. We're junior-high students!"

The man seemed to ignore all Mimi had said and continued trying to get on her good side. As a matter of fact, his smile grew wider when she mentioned that she was in junior high school. "Would you like to listen to some music?"

"No thank you."

"Excuse me, sir, but it would be quicker if you were to make a right at the next light," Koushirou instructed. He wanted to cut this ride as short as possible. He was growing extremely agitated with the man and his attempts. He just felt it would be better to get Mimi away from the guy.

"I know what I'm doing," the man growled.

"Hey! If he says that you should turn at the next light, then you should _turn_ at the next light!"

"Yes, ma'am!" He promptly turned at the light.

"I hope we get there soon, I never cared much for riding around on nice days. Now I'm all for riding around on summer days." Even though Mimi had grown up and matured over the years, she still preferred to be in a setting where she's comfortable and at times, she still liked being *"dainty".

"It shouldn't take us too much longer," Koushirou said while looking over the map he'd picked up earlier. While looking at the map, he pulled out a pen, and started to write some calculations on the back of it as a way to check if what he had come up with in mind was correct. "According to the remaining distance we have, and the speed that this driver is going, from what I can see, we should be there in about ten minutes, especially since he turned at the light back there."

"Ugh, distance equations! I never liked that type of math much."

Koushirou could only shrug. Solving distance equations was a breeze for him. He really did seem to enjoy math, and it was definitely one of his best subjects, but Jou had all of them beat. He could do pretty much every kind of math calculation in his head, a skill he'd shown at a very early age.

"Hey, Koushirou, did you really mean what you said back at the orphanage?"

"Hm, what did I say?"

"You said that you would try to visit every week to act as that young girl's older brother."

"You were around for that too?"

"Yeah, and I was also there when you temporarily became a father." Koushirou turned red while Mimi laughed at his priceless expression. "Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing you. Now, did you really mean what you said to her?"

"I suppose so," Koushirou said while ridding himself of his slight blush. "That was the only thing I could think of at that moment to keep her from crying. A promise is a promise, and it would be very disappointing to her if I broke a promise like that." He grew quiet and stared out the window. "I would hate having to grow up in a place like that, never having a _real_ home…like my mother…"

Mimi thought back to how lonesome Koushirou's birth mother's life had to have been before meeting Koushirou's father, but figured that she had led a happy life once marrying. The car came to a halt in front of the school. The driver, though, kept staring at Mimi through his rear-view mirror, like she was some kind of a prize. Neither Mimi nor Koushirou noticed, as they were looking at the school.

"Here you are," he replied dully, "Odaiba University."

After the man announced the price, Koushirou dug through his pocket to give Mimi his half for the fare. He stepped out of the car, leaving her in it. He walked a little ways away from the taxi cab, staring up at the building and the beautiful school grounds, completely mesmerized. He'd actually never been on a university campus before. He was pretty much wondering what type of computer equipment the place probably had.

'Good, they didn't get out together…'

After Mimi finished counting out the money, she put the money into the little tray. The taxi driver, on the other hand, remained looking face-forward, and stuck to watching her through the mirror. She smiled to him. "Here you go, sir, and thank you for the ride."

"You don't _have_ to pay. I did promise you a free ride."

"You were serious about that?"

"Of course," he winked to her.

"That's very kind of you," she responded hesitantly.

"Yes, it is, so why not stay back there while I join you? My schedule has just opened up."

"Um…that's okay. I'll be happy to pay."

"How about paying me with a little kiss?"

'Gross! This old geezer _can't_ be serious! He has to be at _least_ 40 or something!' The girl shuddered at the thought, and was actually starting to fear the man's advances. "Aren't you married or something?"

"What's your point? Even if I _were_ married, I would still find something better. I prefer pretty young, school-aged girls. They're so pure and innocent," he snarled.

"I'm getting out of here!"

"If you would like, we could find something else to do to compensate for this free ride."

The man turned around, giving Mimi a look. He almost looked like he was a beast ready to pounce his prey. Koushirou was still a little ways off so he didn't know what was going on, and to those walking by, unless close up, it just looked like the two were discussing something. The driver just smiled dementedly as he saw Mimi, frantically trying to open the door on her side. The door wouldn't budge. That particular side had a special lock on it, which Mimi had forgotten. Usually, one would get in and out from the back passenger side, not the driver's.

Realizing that getting out on her side wasn't going to work, she tried to go for Koushirou's door, but the man used his free arm to push her back into the seat and pushed the button so that it would close.

"Y-y-you said that the button was broken!"

"I lied," he snarled. "Now, save all of that energy for later," he told her with an evil smirk. He pulled out a long object, the sun shining off the top part of it. Mimi gasped. He only had the knife out enough for just Mimi to see, so that he wouldn't draw attention to himself. "If you don't want to get hurt, you'll stay put, and don't even _attempt _to try and get the attention of your friend out there, or I will _definitely_ use this."

She didn't know what to do, and was too frightened to scream out. With the girl too scared to even speak, the man put the car into gear, and took off. He only drove a few blocks and then turned off. Koushirou had heard the car screech and turned to see what it was. He saw the cab make the turn around the corner. He didn't really think much of it. "I wonder why he's in such a hurry." Realizing that he was speaking to himself, he turned around. "Mimi-san?"

He asked a couple of people nearby if they'd seen a girl that fit Mimi's description, but they shook their heads. The girl's not being around, caused slight worry in Koushirou. He was positive that he hadn't done anything to offend her this time, and he couldn't figure out where she could have gone so fast. He thought for a moment, when something hit him. He looked down the road in the direction that the taxi had gone. He thought back to his map, realizing that the taxi had gone down an alleyway with a dead end.

"I wonder if she stayed in the car." He shook his head. "If she _did_ stay in the car, why?"

He didn't know why, but he started to get the feeling that something just wasn't right. He decided to head towards where the taxi had gone, but sent a message to Mimi's mobile phone first. When he didn't get a quick response, his sixth sense grew even stronger. He decided to phone the authorities, who of which said that they'd be right there. He was surprised that they'd even agreed to it, given the vague information, but that didn't matter too much to him at the moment. With Mimi on his mind, he continued running towards where the taxi had gone…  


* * *

The lecherous driver was now in the back with Mimi, but he had left the knife in the front seat. He had taken something else out, but he had dropped that when he jumped into the back seat with Mimi. Whatever it was, it made a loud clanking sound. To Mimi, it sounded like something metallic.

The man had gotten in on Koushirou's side, leaving the door slightly ajar. He also cut off the engine, so that Mimi wouldn't try to let the powered windows down to escape. Mimi was now trying her hardest to get away from the dark-haired man, but he just wouldn't let her, and she had no way out.

"Don't act like that," he told her gently, as he gingerly dragged her from out of the car, even though she struggled the entire time. "You ought to be glad that I chose you." He carried her behind the taxi, so that he wouldn't be seen, and laid her on the rough ground. "You have such a radiant beauty that I couldn't wait any longer. I _must_ have you now! It's like I'm staring at Aphrodite!" He stroked her hair. "Please forgive me for these unprepared surroundings. I just want a kiss, my love goddess," he said while going towards his belt buckle with his free hand.

"Let me go!" she screamed and kicked at the man. "Leave me alone!"

The man pressed her down onto the ground, holding her arms, and forced a kiss on her. This angered the girl, and she broke one arm free and punched the man in the face after he'd stopped kissing her. He just smiled at her. "I like energetic girls. That makes you even _more_ attractive," he told her darkly. "The other girls never complained, but they weren't as worthy as you, either. This alleyway is one of many I use when I can't be bothered with going home, but I never expected I would come across such a lovely creature. The gods are blessing me. Your screams won't reach anyone because of all of the commotion at the nearby campus and even if someone _did_ hear, I could always say you agreed to it. You were saving yourself just for me."

Mimi tried to scream again.

"My love goddess, just go along with it. It will all be over in just a moment." His grin grew wider as he started to rip Mimi's blouse open and positioning himself better, while trying to get Mimi positioned in a way he felt comfortable with. She continued to struggle. "You're so nice and pure…you're obviously untainted…and untouched…just what I love…"

He kissed her again muffling out her cries. Realizing that she was doomed, the girl closed her eyes as tears streamed down her face. She wanted it to be over and was telling herself that it was all just horrible nightmare and that all she had to do was wake up.

After the millionth forced kiss to the girl, he was about to try something a bit more daring, but he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. After the quick pain, it caused him to slump down right on top of Mimi, a small trickle of blood dripping onto Mimi's blouse. The pain had caused the man to black out. Mimi felt very awkward with the older man on top of her, _especially_ with what he was about to do to her, and it was quite obvious that he was definitely "ready". That's what disturbed her most.

She started to push the heavy man from off of her while she felt someone pulling the man. She saw a certain redheaded boy doing the pulling. After pulling the man off of Mimi, he let him roughly drop to the ground.

"K-Koushirou!"

"Mimi-san, are you all right?" he asked her urgently.

She didn't say anything, but accepted the boy's hand as he helped her off of the ground. After doing so, Koushirou turned his head abruptly, his face going partially red. "Um….Mi-Mimi-san…y-your shirt."

She looked down and realized that her pretty blouse was ripped in the front. She tried her best to cover herself by holding the torn blouse closed, but it didn't help. Her underclothing was still visible. Koushirou took off his jacket and without looking at her, handed it to her since her white jacket was a bit ripped as well. It was a little bigger on her, and she was able to close it to cover herself up better. "Thank you," she murmured. The girl shook as she stared down at the immobilized man. She wasn't sure how to react to the situation she was almost in. What had surprised her even more was that it was only the late afternoon and he just didn't care.

Koushirou really wanted to say something to her, but didn't know exactly what given the situation. He didn't know how he should react or approach the situation either. Should he tell her that everything will be okay now? Should he act as if nothing happened at all? Should he _hug_ her? The last thought made him a bit tense…hugging the girl. Either way, he still didn't really know what to do. The two remained standing there in silence until it was broken by police sirens.

"Good, the p-police is here."

"The police?"

The officers ran down the alley towards the two. "Are you the ones who called us?" the first officer asked.

"I was the one who called, sir. I sensed something was wrong and by the look of things, I was right. I noticed that the taxi that my friend and I had taken drove off and went to a deserted area. I then noticed that my friend was missing, so I called it in just in case something had happened."

While Koushirou was telling the story to the first officer, the three other police officers were investigating the scene.

"Hey, it's him!" the second officer exclaimed.

"Y-you're right! " Sergeant Manabu confirmed.

"It's Doppo Fumio!" the third officer said in surprise. "We've been after him for a while!"

"You're looking at a reward," Sergeant Manabu told the boy.

"A reward?"

He nodded. "There was a bounty put out on him and a reward offered for his capture. We've been chasing him for months, but he would always get out of our reach. Every time we received a good tip or lead, he would disappear before we could catch him. With what you told our officer over the phone, who then reported it to me, I found it very suspicious, which is why we took your call so seriously."

"He always abducts young girls and attacks them in the most unpleasant of ways," the first officer explained. "His posing as a taxi driver just to abduct unsuspecting girls sounds like something he'd actually do."

"It's quite sickening if you ask me," Sergeant Manabu said angrily. 'Thank goodness he didn't get the chance to _kill_ this girl. He always kills his victims after he's done with them or when they are 'no longer pure'.'

"Excuse me, but was this man attacking you?" asked the second officer.

She nodded slowly and muttered out a barely audible, "Yes."

"We better take you in to check you over," the sergeant told her uneasily.

"No, no, I'm fine. He didn't do anything to me." She looked over at Koushirou. "He got here just in time."

"Young man, you should really consider yourself a hero!" the sergeant said proudly. "What you did showed true heroism and that you are, indeed, a great citizen and asset to our city!"

"Um, y-yeah…" he managed to get out, unsure of how to react to the praise.

Doppo Fumio began to stir as other officers arrived on the scene to make the arrest. His speech was a bit slurred due to the hit he'd taken. "I-I didn't do anything. She is my love goddess! I was showing her my love! She offered her services to me to get out of paying, but now she's lying!

"Anyway, you should arrest that boy for interrupting our love session for battery and assault! He hit me with something!"

Hearing this angered Koushirou tremendously. He literally wanted to hit him again. When he first arrived at the alleyway, he heard the girl's muffled screams, and once he saw what was happening to her, all Koushirou could see was red. After hitting him that first time, he wanted to continue hitting him, but had to literally stop himself. Seeing Mimi in such a way made him want to protect her, although granted, he figured that most anyone would have in that moment. Mimi during all of this remained quiet, staring out into space.

The thing Koushirou had hit him with was a large, metal object, which was on the ground by the car. It was a big, heavy wrench that had fallen out when he'd opened the door earlier.

'I'm glad that I managed to go with my gut and I'm glad that I _did_ manage to knock him out, even if it was temporary, but I didn't realize I had the strength to even do that. I do know that if he _ever_ touches or harms Mimi-san again, that I won't hesitate to hit him again! I don't usually resort to violence, but it was extremely necessary and what he was about to do was unforgivable!'

"You be quiet!" the sergeant told Doppo with a hateful look. He then instructed his officers to search Doppo's car for any other weapons. "I'm going to make sure that you never seen the light of day _ever_ again!"

"You liar!" Doppo screamed at Mimi as he was forced into the squad car. He kept shouting obscenities about Mimi and how she'd deceived him.

After he was dealt with, the sergeant turned to his second officer. "Lieutenant Tsuya, I want you to take care of that girl over there. It would make more sense for a female officer to deal with this type of situation."

"Yes sir!"

She took Mimi aside, who got her statement, and explained how she didn't agree to any of what Doppo had accused her of, and during that time, the sergeant was still speaking with Koushirou. After all had been discussed, Lieutenant Tsuya offered to take both Mimi and Koushirou home, as their statements had already been taken, and that given the situation, it would've been better to talk in a more comfortable atmosphere to ease the tension and to relax the victim. Koushirou figured that given the circumstances how going home was definitely the best idea suggested. Unfortunately, before they could leave, news reporters had fled to the scene, bombarding them with many questions.

A lot of nearby people and Odaiba University staff and students gathered around, curious as to what had happened, but were blocked off by the police, given that it was a crime scene and asked to disperse, although many didn't leave. Mimi was still quiet over the entire incident and didn't give much of a statement outside of "yes" or "no". Koushirou, on the other hand, gave statements when asked anything, but made it absolutely clear that he wanted to remain anonymous, meaning no photos of him and no mentioning of their names in any of the articles written, and that it would be a good idea to keep Mimi anonymous as well.

After they left the crime scene as discreetly as they possibly could, which wasn't easy given the crowd, in a vacant squad car driven by Lieutenant Tsuya, they rode in a deafening silence to the Nishimura home. Koushirou was the one to give her the directions. They all stepped out of the car. Lieutenant Tsuya wanted to speak with Mimi's guardians about what had gone on, but Mimi told the officer that she didn't really want to get them involved and that she would tell them in her own time. That aside, her folks weren't even home since they'd all went to visit her uncle's parents in nearby Saitama. No one seemed to be home in the other houses around either.

"I'll be fine, Lieutenant Tsuya. I'll be fine by myself."

"Are you sure?"

She forced on a smile and nodded. "I'm sure I'll be okay." Koushirou wasn't very convinced.

The woman pulled out a card and handed it to Mimi. "This is my card. If you ever feel the need to talk, please feel free to call." Mimi nodded. "Now, Mr. Izumi, I'll escort you home."

"I can stay here. I can walk since I don't live too far from here. It's about a 30 minute walk."

"Are you positive?" He nodded. "If you insist," she finally said, realizing that having a friend around would probably be very helpful to Mimi. "Now, remember, we will have to speak further, Mr. Izumi, so an officer will be sent over to your home either later on today or sometime tomorrow. We have to discuss your reward."

Koushirou glanced over at Mimi, who was, once again, lost in thought. He was wondering if it was actually worth it. "Um, you know, I don't really need any reward."

"Nonsense! You helped to capture a major criminal! Young women and girls can now walk the streets feeling a little bit safer since our main attacker has been caught and put behind bars, and given the evidence, there's no way he'll get away with what he did and will _definitely_ receive some type of a conviction!"

"Y-yeah, okay," he answered her hurriedly. "I'll just go down to the station and speak with you there."

"No need; like I said, we'll come to you since, at your request, you wanted to remain anonymous. We will contact you before coming over to your home with the number you provided."

"My home?"

"That _is_ okay, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's fine." He was unable to come up with anything convincing for her _not_ to come by.

"Great, we'll see you later then." With that, the lady returned to her car and pulled off, leaving Mimi and Koushirou in front of the Nishimura home.

"Thank you for sticking around," Mimi softly uttered to Koushirou lifelessly.

He didn't know how to respond to that and just nodded weakly. He couldn't understand what was going through her mind. He wanted to try to comfort her, but didn't know what to do still. He couldn't even give her a pep talk, as it was usually _her_ to give the advice and pep talks.

"Well, um…Mimi-san, how about I treat you to that meal now or we could either go catch the rest of the party."

"No thank you. I would rather sit around here for right now, if you don't mind," she told him sullenly.

"Okay, if you really feel that's best."

He reluctantly walked away after Mimi had entered the big, empty house. He hated to leave her in such a state, but it was her wish, and decided that he'd grant her that at least. Koushirou couldn't help but wonder how Mimi would've reacted if the guy had actually gone a lot further with her. 'She probably wouldn't be speaking at all…'

He, eventually, made it home. His parents were out as well. Since he had plans to go "study", they decided to have a romantic outing together, given the day. Koushirou went to the living room, and slumped down on the couch, deep in thought over all that had happened that day…

Author's Notes

Note 1: I just described the hitch-hiking scene, and just thought I'd point out a couple of things. That man wasn't Sora's "cousin" in the original. The man actually picked up "Sora-chan" and "Mimi-chan" because they were cute. The boys he considered to be unnecessary baggage and treated them like crap because of it. He was also nameless for the original version.

When the rest of the boys failed at hitching a ride, and the girls put up their signs (which was dropped from the dub), the others were talking about how having those two trying to get a ride was a good idea because the guys would be all over them, or something equivalent to that, and I think that Koushirou was the one to say it.  


* * *

Note 2: In Japan, the taxi drivers can control the back passenger door. The driver has a button he or she pushes which opens and closes the door. The customer isn't supposed to open and close the door themselves. You could also see this in the hitchhiking episode when the taxi stopped for Jou and Koushirou. The door opened, meaning that the driver must have pushed the button to open the back passenger door.  


* * *

Note 3: This is just something random in reference to the "dainty" statement made about Mimi. In Adventure, in the episode when the children are back home and trying to find the eighth child, and Mimi and Sora were in Shiba Park and went to Tokyo Tower to cool off from the extreme summer heat, Mimi pretty much said that she likes to be "dainty" and relaxed and all that. In other words, she prefers to be comfortable, not "roughing it" if she can help it.

Fic Chapter Changes

No real changes, just changed up the way the cab was set up, the way the assault was done, changed some dialogue, and, like previous chapters, had the characters use their mobile phones.


	14. 14  Mimi's Secret is Out!

Hi again everyone. I hope the last chapter was okay. It could definitely have been better, but I wanted to stay in the PG-13 realm, which is why I wasn't very descriptive. Anyway, now you all know why Mimi was depressed when visited by Sora and Miyako and why Koushirou was snappy with them and also why he was blaming himself for Mimi's bad mood.

Now, Taichi, Sora, Miyako, and Yamato show up for this chapter along with Mimi's friends and her four main admirers.

Anyway, for this chapter, I must apologize for it. This is definitely a lengthy one since it involves so many of the characters. I noticed that for chapters involving the other classmates or either school related parts, it ends up a _little _bit longer than expected. Hm, as for author's notes, I don't think there'll be any, but we'll see. There _may_ be some chapter changes, though.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 14: Mimi's Secret is Out!

It was the next day and everyone was in their respective classes in school. Sora had called Taichi the previous night and let him know that all plans to hang out were out and how neither Koushirou nor Mimi was up to doing anything. Sora had tried to get in touch with Mimi earlier that morning, but she never crossed paths with her. The same happened with Miyako.

Mimi's aunt did get in touch with her sister-in-law and talked to her about Mimi, and Mrs. Tachikawa found it very strange that Mimi of all people was coming across as depressed. She asked to speak with Mimi. Even though she wasn't in the mood to talk with her mother at that particular moment, she took the call. Her mother acted frantic over the phone, wondering if she wanted to return to New York, but Mimi insisted that she was okay, and gave her the excuse that she was upset because she didn't get to do any shopping. Satoe wasn't all that convinced, but also believed that whenever Mimi was ready to talk, that she would do so in her own time, but that didn't stop the middle-aged woman from trying to get _some_ information out of her.

Right now, it was almost time for Koushirou's lunch break, and he was also glad that he wouldn't have to worry about cleaning time after lunch, as they cleaned up the school earlier because of visitors, but even during that, Mimi just didn't seem to be herself. Koushirou was surprised that Mimi had mustered up the courage to come to school at all. She'd come into homeroom right at the tardy charm and just took her seat without saying hi to anyone. He closely observed her all throughout their classes, and noticed how she seemed lackluster as opposed to outgoing and cheery. She was also fairly quiet and noticed how she wasn't whispering to Ayame or Yuuko or taking advantage of the breaks in between their classes. He knew right there something was wrong and that she was still upset, and wondering how she was going to cope with lunch coming up soon where she would have to be the most social. Even during their cleaning time, she was quiet and didn't say a word to him and came across as incredibly distracted.

After a while, their teacher dismissed them, and everyone went off to their respective areas. Koushirou wasn't in the mood for lunch, and had left his bento in his book bag. He headed straight to the computer lab. He was too depressed to eat. He was still upset over the events that occurred the previous day, and still felt that he was at fault for what had happened to Mimi. He was so concerned about himself and a "stupid school building" to notice fully what was going on. 'How could I have missed all the signs? That man was hitting on her the entire time…but…I never would've imagined him doing what he did…'

Meanwhile, over in the lunch room…

"Oh, and _this_ one is the funniest!" Yuuko said while pointing to one of the pictures on Ayame's digital camera. "Look at his hair! Yuuji-kun looked hilarious and he was _literally_ going to try and stand on his head while playing the autoharp for you!"

"How, we _don't_ know, but thanks to Chinatsu-chan, he didn't try it."

All three girls laughed, expecting Mimi to laugh along with them, but she didn't even crack a smile.

"Mimi-chan?" called Ayame, who was seated across from her and beside Chinatsu.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized. She forced on a smile and looked at the camera's photo. "My, Yuuji-kun looks funny."

The three girls gave one another a look, and realized something was _definitely_ wrong with Mimi. She'd forgotten her lunch and claimed that she wasn't hungry when offering her some of their lunches, and all three had tried calling her the previous night but she'd refused to speak with either of them.

"Mimi-chan, what's wrong? You still haven't told us about your trip to Hikarigaoka yesterday with Izumi-kun."

"It was fine," she responded somberly. "It's beautiful place, especially Hikarigaoka Park."

The three girls joined together and huddled to discuss Mimi's current state. Mimi was in such a daze, she didn't notice that Yuuko had risen from her seat beside her to join the other two.

"So, what do you think?" asked Chinatsu.

"I don't know, but it's not like her to act like this."

"I know, I know!" Yuuko started excitedly. "She told Koushirou-kun that she was madly in love with him, expecting a White Day gift from him, but he didn't return her feelings and didn't give her a gift because he sees her as only a friend, and whenever she goes to Nerima, she will always avoid going to Hikarigaoka because she will only feel heartache and pain."

The other two girls gave Yuuko a look meaning, "Are you _serious_?"

"Didn't she give him giri-choco like she did with pretty much everyone?" Ayame asked, her eyes slits.

"Oh…yeah, I think she did…"

"You've been reading too many romance novels and romance manga," muttered Chinatsu.

"Well, _sorry_ for being a hopeless romantic."

"Hopeless is right," murmured Ayame.

Finally realizing that Yuuko and the others were discussing amongst themselves, Mimi asked, "What are you three doing?"

"Um, nothing," Yuuko insisted, retaking her seat beside Mimi.

"We were just planning on what we should do since our spring vacation is coming up," Ayame said.

"Yeah, aside from our having to go to the senior graduation ceremony at the end of the week," Chinatsu added.

"Well, this is our last week as second-year students," Yuuko cheered. "Aren't you a little excited?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" she asked bluntly.

"I don't know; maybe it's because you haven't smiled a decent smile all day," Yuuko pointed out. "What did Koushirou-kun do to you to cause your mood to be so off today and for you to miss the party yesterday?"

Hearing that, Mimi grew defensive. "He didn't _do_ anything!" She stood up. She felt like crying. "Koushirou is a _great_ friend! I would give my life for him!" She rushed off to the restroom to calm herself down, leaving her friends with looks of bewilderment upon their faces.

"She would give her _life_ for him?" Chinatsu blinked. "I wonder what's going on."

"He must have done something to Mi-chan and she's just covering for him."

"Come on, Mimi-chan is a good judge of character," Ayame reminded them. "Koushirou-kun is a decent person and I doubt she would've said something as serious as that if he wasn't."

"Who _knows_ how he is behind closed doors when one is alone with him! He may have lots of faults that no one else knows of or he may actually be some kind of an _animal_! Rawr!" Chinatsu and Ayame shook their heads at Yuuko in disbelief. "S-sorry…I just like a good scandal every once in a while. Hehe."

The three continued their conversation about Koushirou and Mimi's trip, not realizing that their conversation had been listened to...

* * *

In the computer lab, Koushirou was surfing the net for some information…

'Since going back to Odaiba University is out, unless I go by myself, I'll just stick to checking out the school's webpage. I wouldn't want to put her through the trauma of actually going back there.' He typed in the webpage's address, and after the page loaded, he shouted out, "Pro_digious_! That didn't take me long at all."

Before he was able to do remotely anything, he heard some disgruntled voices come from behind him.

"Hold it there, Izumi!"

"I knew we would find him here since he's head of the Computer Club," the second responded.

"We want some answers!" demanded the third.

"And we want them _now_!"

Startled, as he didn't even hear the door to the room open, he got up and turned to face four of his fellow classmates.

"Takamatsu-san, Hashimoto-san, Ueda-san, Tomokazu-san…"

"What did you do to upset Mimi-san?" Ukyo asked the boy.

"We know that _you're_ the reason she missed the party yesterday and how she was all happy Saturday before the party according to…um, our three sources we happened to overhear at lunch!"

Seki rolled his eyes at his cousin. "Way to go _Einstein_ for giving out _too_ much information!" he told him. "Those three would kill us if they knew we were eavesdropping."

"If you don't tell us what you did to our poor Mimi-chan, who hasn't graced us with her beautiful smile all day, then we will _find_ a way to get it out of you!" Misao threatened.

The other three boys nodded in agreement, Ukyo only partially. The four, like many others, _really_ hated seeing Mimi upset or distressed and would always try to find the source to fix it, but it had never really come up before since it was rare for Mimi to be upset over pretty much anything. She was usually happy and outgoing whenever in school and around her friends.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Stop lying!" Yuuji told him. "We know you did something to upset Mimi-chan yesterday! She even forgot her lunch today because of you!"

'She forgot her lunch?'

"She's been down all day," Ukyo pointed out.

Just referencing yesterday was enough to annoy Koushirou, and these four weren't helping his mood any at all. He stood his ground. "I'm not going to tell you anything. I'm not obligated to."

"Don't make us beat a confession out of you!"

Koushirou was surprised at the threat Misao had just issued to him. He knew of the boy, and yeah, he was pretty big and did look like the type one wouldn't mess with, but he didn't seem like the violent type or the type to resort to violence, and neither did the other three, although Yuuji was questionable. Yuuji was usually quick to lose this cool.

Koushirou kept his resolute composure, despite the threat. "I told you that I didn't do _any_thing to her! We were working on our history project yesterday, now if you guys will excuse me, I have some work to do if I want to get a decent mark on it!" he snapped at them.

Koushirou retook his seat in front of the computer he had been working on, until he felt his collar being pulled, forcing him to stand back up. The one to pull him up, and then turn him around, was the giant Misao. He was holding his collar with both hands and was in Koushirou's face.

"You don't work until you tell us what you did to Mimi-chan!" He shook him slightly.

"No!" Koushirou shouted back defiantly to the bigger boy. "I said I didn't _do_ anything to her for the millionth time!" He then murmured under his breath, "_not on purpose_…"

Misao kept hold of Koushirou with one hand, while bawling up his other into a fist. "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, Izumi, but we gave you a lot of chances to cooperate and come clean with us and you just ran out of them."

Yuuji, Seki, and Ukyo were surprised at the serious threat. Neither expected Misao to go that far. They figured that his threats were as empty as all of theirs were.

"Misao-san, I don't think you should-"

"Quiet, Ukyo!"

"Seriously, stop! This isn't going to solve anything! Don't make me hurt you!"

"Shut up! I'd like to see you try it!" Ukyo could definitely immobilize Misao, but was very hesitant on showing off his skills in general, especially since they were in school. Misao put his full attention back on Koushirou. "I'm going to get a confession out of you whether you want to give us one or not since you didn't cooperate earlier, like I said! You'll regret causing Mimi-chan all of her pain!"

Koushirou closed his eyes, awaiting the punch. In some ways, he felt he deserved it. He couldn't feel the pain Mimi was in, so he figured that maybe a punch to the face would make things even. The punch started to come, but he never felt anything, as all five of them heard a light voice shout out, "Stop!" Misao stopped his punch midway to see who it was that had just ordered him to stop, and hoping that it wasn't a teacher, or even worse, their vice principal or head teacher. The other three boys looked back, and Koushirou opened his eyes to see a very angered looking Mimi tapping her foot with her hands on her hips.

"How _dare_ you! What are you four doing to him! Let Koushirou go!"

Misao quickly released Koushirou's collar and gave off a nervous laugh. By releasing the redhead, it caused him to fall roughly to the floor, but he recovered quickly and stood.

"Well, I'm _waiting_!"

"We-we were just having ourselves a little fun," Misao insisted, his face growing hot.

"It didn't look that way to me! I heard you threaten him before I walked in here, Misao-kun! How _dare_ you four try to invade my personal life and then act like this to get information about it!"

"Mimi-chan," Seki begged, "don't be mad at us!" He pointed to Misao. "This was all _his_ idea!"

"Yes, we're not proud of it, but we just went along with him," Ukyo added.

"We didn't even know he was really going to hit him! We just thought he was making empty threats, like the rest of us were! We just wanted to _scare_ the information out of him!"

"You _idiot_, when are you going to learn how to shut up!" Seki told his cousin in annoyance.

"I wasn't going to really hit him! I was just trying to scare him!"

"You four…just go…will you? Please?"

"B-but Mimi-chan," Yuuji cried.

"_Please_…leave!"

The four boys frowned, realizing that they'd definitely made a mistake by threatening the computer whiz. They, reluctantly, left, so Mimi and Koushirou thought. They decided to listen through the door.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Koushirou brushed himself off and gave Mimi a questioning look. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I was looking around for you and figured you would be in here since I didn't see you at lunch."

"Oh, lunch! Ueda-san said that you'd forgotten your lunch!" Koushirou went to his book bag and pulled out his bento. "Would you like mine? I didn't make it, you know, like the ohagi you made for me, but I hope it'll be okay for you."  
x x x x x x x

Outside of the door...

"So Mimi-chan _did_ make him a snack," Yuuji grumbled jealously underneath his breath.  
x x x x x x x

"No, that's okay. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's okay."

Koushirou put the bento back into his bag. He was feeling a bit discomfited with the girl. "So, what did you want t-to talk to me about?"

"Well…I was wondering when…we could go back to Odaiba University and when we'll be able to go to Toudai. We're running out of time."

"Wh-what? You actually _want_ to go after…after what happened yesterday?"

She nodded. "Nothing happened."

Koushirou noticed that the girl's voice was completely void of emotion. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," she told him as confidently as she possibly could. 'I have to be strong for Koushirou and I have to get over this. Nothing happened! That's all that matters. I can't walk around sulking all day long. That man is behind bars and he won't be attacking _any_ other girls!'

Even though she was insistent on being okay, Koushirou wasn't convinced in the least. "Mimi-san, you really don't have to go if you don't want to, and given the circumstances surrounding what happened, I wouldn't blame you if you didn't."

"I'm going whether you want me to or not, and that's final!" Mimi retorted stubbornly. "I do _not_ have to worry and I want to go…"

"But, Mimi-san," the boy began sensibly, "the quickest way there if leaving from our school would be by taxi."

"So what? There's nothing wrong with riding in a taxi." Mimi continued on with her farce, as if nothing were bothering her. "No," her voice started to quiver, "there's nothing wr-wr-wrong with riding in a taxi."

"Mimi-san?"

At this point, Mimi's eyes were starting to water and sting. "It's nice and quick and can sometimes cost less than the train and the bus depending on where you want to go, but you _do_ get to where you have to go and you can always tr-trust the dr-driver!"

After she said, "you can always trust the driver", Mimi burst into tears, and sat down in one of the computer lab chairs. The four boys on the other side of the door didn't know what to think. It was now obvious to them that Koushirou really didn't have anything to do with her mood and felt a bit bad for accusing him in the first place. Meanwhile, back in the computer lab, Koushirou was trying to calm Mimi down as best as he could.

"It could happen to anyone," she wailed. "Why?"

"I don't know, but thankfully we don't have to worry about that anymore."  
x x x x x x x

"Worry about what?" Seki wondered.

"Mimi-chan is crying!" Misao said in alarm.

"But Izumi-san isn't the one at fault," Ukyo muttered.  
x x x x x x x

"I'm _not_ strong," she continued to cry. "I'm trying my best to be strong for you and go back, but I still can't! I had nightmares all last night about what _could_ have happened to me and what _would_ have if you hadn't have shown up when you did! I just couldn't sleep at all last night because of it. I felt _dirty_ after I got home yesterday. I still _do_ in fact! I bathed and I bathed and I scrubbed, but I still can't get that _disgusting_ feeling to go away!

"I want to go with you, but I still feel bad because of what happened!"

"Mimi-san, you're one of the strongest people I know."

She looked up at him. "Wh-what do you mean?" she hiccuped between sobs.

"You're still willing to go after all that happened. I'm sorry that I can't understand how you're feeling completely, and you know that I can't because it didn't happen to me, but…I've been feeling really bad over it too…"

"Wh-why?"

"Because it was my fault." He turned his head and looked down at the slick shiny computer lab floor. "If I hadn't been so wrapped up in myself over this project and my selfishness involving my parents, it would have never happened!"  
x x x x x x x

"What would have never happened?" wondered Ukyo.

"I wish they would be more specific," complained Seki.

Misao grew tired of listening, and decided to peak into the room through the crack of the sliding door. When they left earlier, the door hadn't been shut fully. The other three decided to do the same, but definitely remained quiet. They didn't want Mimi even more cross with them.  
x x x x x x x

"It wasn't your fault." Mimi wiped away some of her tears. "It was mine!"

Hearing that ludicrous statement, Koushirou sat down in the other chair, grabbed her by the shoulders gently, and looked the girl dead in her eyes. "No! This is nowhere _near_ your fault! You shouldn't blame yourself in any way or form for what happened! You're the _last_ person who's at fault! I can't believe you would actually _say _something like that!" Realizing what he was doing, he awkwardly let go abruptly and stood.

"But you kept trying to persuade me to go to the party and to not go along with you after we got back, but I went along anyway because of my stubbornness!"

"Mimi-san…don't. _Please _don't. It _wasn't_ your fault and I refuse to let you _believe_ that it was!"

"B-but you said it was your fault for not paying attention…"

"I should have been more observant and protective," he told her in a soft voice, "but, it _definitely_ wasn't your fault!" he finished up firmly.

Mimi slightly frowned. "Maybe we should agree that it was neither of our faults."

"I guess I could accept that. I-I guess it really wasn't when thinking about it. Just…bad timing I guess. Neither one of us needs to be beating ourselves up over this."

"But you had good timing."

"What do you mean?"

"Koushirou, you know what I mean."

"Y-yeah, I think so…"

"I guess it was fated to happen, but…it just bothers me that stuff like that happens, not just here, but all over the world."

"It bothers me too. It shouldn't be allowed and I couldn't help but wonder what makes people like that." Koushirou understood that it had to have been very difficult for Mimi to accept that not everyone could be kind. It was in her nature to try to find the good in everyone. She was also still somewhat trusting like in the past during their Digital World adventures. Aside from Daisuke, Mimi was pretty much the second one to fully trust Ken after his stint as the Digimon Kaiser, despite the fact that he'd killed and abused helpless Digimon. 'Mimi-san…you really _were_ best suited for the Crest of Purity…' he silently noted.

Mimi started to cry again, but wasn't wailing like she had earlier. She just continued shedding tears, sniffling every once in a while.

"Mimi-san, what's wrong?"

"I don't know. I just feel better talking to you about this now, and I guess crying is my way of letting it out. I wasn't even planning on coming to school today since I was so depressed, but realized that I couldn't stay home and have to be brave!"

She stood up and walked over to Koushirou and gave him a _big_ hug. Koushirou nervously, and awkwardly, returned it, his heartbeat starting to quicken some, and his stomach getting that same strange feeling he always got whenever the girl was much too close to him for comfort. The hug was warm to Mimi, which she enjoyed. As odd as it came across, she felt safe being embraced with him in this way, and he had a pleasant scent that she just couldn't place, but it was still nice. She almost didn't want to let go.  
x x x x x x x

'Eh!' all four boys gaped.  
x x x x x x x

Without warning, Mimi leaned up and kissed Koushirou on his right cheek. The boy felt his face go _incredibly_ red, and his heart started to beat so erratically, that it felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. He had never received a kiss from a girl before, his mother being the exception, as it didn't count, but never would've fathomed in a thousand years that someone like her would give him one.

The four boys stared at the display, completely mortified at the sight and didn't know what to do _or_ say. They just stood there…staring…their eyes bugged out...

"Um…wh-what was that for?" he asked, still obliviously hugging on the girl.

"For being a great friend and for all you did to help me yesterday," she told him gently.

The two remained embraced like that, Mimi hugging onto the boy tighter, burying her head into his chest...  
x x x x x x x

The four boys walked off, finally, still in a bit of a stupor over Mimi's actions.

"She…she..."

"Misao, don't say it!" Yuuji shuddered.

"I've lost her," Seki frowned.

"But technically, you never _had_ her."

"Well, you didn't either!" the boy shot back at Ukyo.

"Wait guys! Maybe there's still hope!"

"Misao's right," Seki agreed. "It was a _friendship_ kiss and a hug, not a romantic one!"

Yuuji wiped his brow. "_That's_ a relief."

The four continued on, until they were stopped by a certain history teacher.

"Hi there, Ishidzuka-sensei," the boys all greeted.

"Hey there boys." He put his attention on Yuuji and Seki. "Trying to get back to class early I see," he said while staring down at his watch. "You still have a couple of minutes left until the lunch hour is over and until my history class starts."

"Yeah, we were on our way there," Yuuji told him.

"Yes, it's very intriguing, your history lessons," Seki added on lamely.

"Yeah, very interesting, the material."

Ukyo was the only one who didn't have Ishidzuka for any of his courses, so he didn't have to worry about him, and let Yuuji, Seki, and Misao handle all of the discussion.

"I'm glad to hear that. I'll be right back. I have to get these papers copied off for class. It's the first part of your four-part exam. I really shouldn't be such a procrastinator," he laughed. "I waited until the last minute to copy these. I should have known that I wouldn't have enough for your class. Heh, it's too bad that the copier in the teacher's room is down, so I have to use the student one."

With that, the man strolled away.

"I'm glad he didn't ask too many questions," Yuuji breathed out in relief.

"Yeah, same here."

"Too bad we actually _have_ a working copier," grumbled Yuuji.

"I know what you mean, cuz. I wouldn't mind getting out of _that_ exam!"

"I really dislike this new experimental curriculum," Ukyo complained. "What person decided to make us take exams during _this_ time of the year? We usually take exams like this in May and then finals in July."

The other three could only shrug.

"It's almost time to get back to class," Misao told the others. "We better go..:"

"Yeah, he's right." The group started to walk off, when something came to Seki's mind.

"What's wrong," Yuuji asked.

"Mimi-chan!"

"What about her?" Tears started to stream down his face. "She's with Izumi!"

"Ishidzuka-sensei said that the copier in the teacher's room was broken. The student copier is in the student computer lab that the Computer Club uses. Mimi-chan is going to get into trouble if Ishidzuka-sensei walks in there to find her and Izumi hugging and stuff. They could get into trouble or something. I know that's not allowed in school!"

"What can we do?" asked Misao. "We can't let the perfect record of Mimi-chan be tainted!"

"Nothing," Ukyo said while pointing down the hall. "He's already there."

"Uh-oh," both cousins said in unison.

Mr. Ishidzuka opened the door of the computer lab to find both Koushirou and Mimi sitting at one of the computers. The boys had snuck behind Mr. Ishidzuka, curious as to what was going to happen, but to their surprise, the two weren't embraced.

"Ah, Tachikawa-san, Izumi-kun! It's nice to see that you're looking into universities. It's never too early I always say."

He saw that Koushirou had Odaiba University's webpage up. Both had broken their embrace a short time after the fearsome foursome left, but kind of stood there in silence for a short while, many thoughts running through their heads. When they heard footsteps growing closer, they acted as if they'd been working the entire time.

"Hello, sensei," the two greeted nervously.

He walked over to the copier and started to make copies of his test. The clock then chimed. "You two better hurry back to class, and don't worry; you won't be marked late if you don't make it back in time."

"Yes, sir," the two obeyed, Koushirou closing out the browser window. They then started out of the computer lab.

"Izumi-kun," Mr. Ishidzuka said, while staring at the boy, "is something wrong?"

"_Wrong_, sir?"

"Your face is red." He laughed. "I hope you're not getting a fever before my exam."

"I'm fine, sir," he answered quickly. "I can't _wait_ to take your exam!"

"Well, if you insist you're well, I guess there isn't much I can do about it, but if you do start to feel bad, please go see the school nurse."

"Yes, sir."

"Anyway, you two better hurry along. I hope I'm not late myself."

The two didn't question him and hurried themselves along. Since their talk, Mimi was a bit more calm and collected. Crying really _did_ help her release some of the pent up stress she was holding in, and she was also glad that she had talked with Koushirou. She could tell from the previous day that he really wanted to try and help her in some way and he had just by talking things out and putting up with her crying.

While walking down the emptying hall, Mimi was surprised at herself. She had hugged _and_ kissed Koushirou. The hug was so gratifying to her that she would've remained that way with him if realization hadn't set in for the two. She was still trying to figure_ why_ she had, though. She'd never given any boy a kiss before, surprisingly, and that included her friend Michael, and she considered him a _very_ close friend, and a romantic interest at one point before moving back to Odaiba.

Koushirou was just as surprised at Mimi's actions as she was. He was wondering why Mimi had kissed him and why they hugged for so long. He didn't want to let her go, and that's what bothered him most, and due to these feelings being so unfamiliar and intensified, it also scared him. Thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to figure out what had just happened. It just didn't "compute" to him as they continued their walk, Koushirou trying to rid himself of his obvious, deep blush as well as those, what he considered to be, unnatural thoughts regarding his embrace with Mimi.

When the two finally reached the classroom, both took their seats. Yuuji glared jealously at a still slightly red Koushirou as he sat, while Seki was in deep thought over all that had occurred earlier between the two.

When Mimi sat down in her usual spot in between Ayame and Yuuko, they noticed how she looked a bit more content, even though, in reality, she was still bothered by the past events, but was doing a better job of hiding that so far. Both girls were relieved, though. Since their teacher was, indeed, running late, Ayame pulled out her small, digital camera, and started to show photos of the four boys from the party. Mimi laughed more like her usual self, and called all of them, "cute".

After school was over, Mimi asked Koushirou to wait for her while she got herself situated to go, such as stopping off by the restroom. While preparing to leave, she ended up running into the sleuthing duo, Miyako and Sora.

"Okay, talk to us," Miyako begged. "What was wrong with you yesterday?"

"Huh?"

"You were very depressed yesterday, Mimi-chan. How come?" asked Sora, only a little less hysterically than Miyako, and more so in her typical, motherly way.

"Oh, yeah…that…" She lowered her head. She didn't want to get back into it. She'd finally gotten out of her slight funk, partially, and definitely didn't want to have to go back to it, especially with where she was headed.

"Mimi-chan, we're your friends. We care about you and worry about you. When you're not acting like yourself, we can't help but wonder what's wrong and if we can help fix it."

"Sora-san…" Mimi uttered.

"Like she said, we're worried about you. You were nice and cheerful before you went on that trip, and then you returned all down and depressed!"

"I really don't want to get into that right now. It would make me sad again."

Miyako threw her hands into the air and whined. "Come on, you didn't even tell us what was bothering Izumi-senpai or _why_ he had to go to Hikarigaoka in the first place! I'm growing very concerned! I'm starting to get grey hairs here from all the worry!" Mimi and Sora couldn't help themselves, and just laughed. "Okay, maybe I'm not getting any grey hairs, but I _am_ worried about the both of you, but you more so than him right now."

"I'll tell you about Koushirou later, I promise. Right now, I have to meet up with him." She started to feel a bit anxious, but concentrated and tried not to think about Sunday. Mimi could tell by both girls' looks that they really wanted to know something, or at least be clued in. "Well, I-I really don't want to talk about it again…not now, but maybe you can check the evening news or read over this morning's paper. It should be in there. Like I said, I'm going to tell you myself, but if I did that right now…I wouldn't be able to face Koushirou."

Miyako was about to protest, until Sora put her hand up. "No, Miyako-chan. If she insists, we'll just go check the paper."

"Thank you for understanding." Mimi hugged Sora. "It'll probably be a feature story, and I really could use the talk. Please call me, both of you, at around 20:00 (8:00), or maybe you could come over and stay the night. Sué-bachan always said that I was allowed to have company over, no questions asked. It's your choice."

The two agreed as Mimi headed to her shoe locker in a rush, leaving the two, but ended up bumping right into Taichi and Yamato.

"The invisible girl finally reappears," laughed Taichi.

"_Invisible_ girl?"

"We were all worried about you yesterday since you didn't show up for the party," Taichi explained. "We haven't seen you much since we went out for karaoke. It was also weird how Koushirou didn't make it either since he seemed so interested in going. I tried giving him a call, but I didn't get an answer from him."

"I was hoping you'd show up," Yamato stated simply.

"Something kind of came up after I got back to Odaiba…" she trailed off. She wasn't going to think about it. "Have either of you seen Koushirou?"

"Not lately," Yamato said.

"Oh, never mind. I see him. He's standing outside the school doors. I have to go. Bye guys!"

The girl ran off, changing out of her shoes, and then to join Koushirou, who had been waiting around for her before Taichi could get his real question out…if she'd seen Sora. Mimi and Koushirou had decided that they'd give Odaiba University another try, regardless of all the uneasiness they were currently feeling amongst one another. It was a combination of feeling awkward from the hug and kiss and the other was definitely because of what had happened the previous day...  
x x x x x x x

Meanwhile…

"Come on," Miyako urged, "let's go to the library. The librarian should have a copy of this morning's paper."

"Yeah, she should. Let's go."

Sora followed behind Miyako, and both ran into Taichi and Yamato.

"Hi," Miyako greeted.

"Nice, we found you," Taichi said.

"Found us?" asked Sora.

"I was looking for you, but you rushed right off after class," Taichi explained.

"Miyako-chan and I wanted to catch Mimi-chan so that we could ask her about yesterday."

"What's going on with her anyway?" asked Yamato curiously. "She said that she missed the party yesterday because something came up after she got _back_ to Odaiba. Where did she go?"

"Mimi-sama and Izumi-senpai spent the entire day in Hikarigaoka yesterday."

Sora gave Miyako a look, meaning that she was giving off too much information.

"Mimi-chan and Koushirou went to Hikarigaoka…alone…yesterday? Like a date?"

Yamato crossed his arms coolly and shook his head. "I doubt it. There's probably more to it."

"That's because there is," Sora confirmed. "Something did happen. When we went over to her place after we split with you guys, she seemed to be incredibly down."

"Hm, so it's like you said. She spent the entire day with Koushirou," Yamato muttered while taking in the information. "Why did she have to go to Hikarigaoka with Koushirou?"

"Isn't it obvious! It's a date! I mean, she was on her way to meet up with him when she bumped into us."

"Wrong again," Sora laughed. "Both of them are working on a history project that's due at the end of the week. Mimi-chan is paired up with him, so there was something that Koushirou-kun had to check out in Hikarigaoka and Mimi-chan tagged along. They both just got back to Odaiba late, and were unable to come to the party."

"Something seems off about that since Hikarigaoka is a little over an hour away from here, meaning they would have had to go out of their way to miss the party…"

"Aww, Yamato-kun…"

"Let's hurry to the library. She said that she didn't want to tell us what happened and to just look it up!"

"Alright, calm down, Miyako-chan. Bye Taichi, Yamato-kun…"

"Wait, I thought you said that she was with Koushirou working on a school assignment."

The two girls left and headed off to the library, not even hearing Yamato. Taichi just kicked at the floor in annoyance.

"So, why didn't you ask her?"

"She's obviously too busy."

"You have to ask her sooner or later before someone else does."

"Like who?" Taichi looked worried.

"Well…maybe me, for instance…" Yamato slightly blushed.

The look of worry left the soccer player's face. "Yeah right! This is kind of difficult, you know? We've never had this type of school function before and the girls seem more excited about it than anything else. There are a lot of people nervous about this dance thing that Mimi-chan came up with, and _speaking_ of her, why haven't you asked her along yet? You had the _perfect_ opportunity just now and you blew it."

"She's been pretty busy herself…and, it's like you said, it's a bit nerve-racking since this dance stuff _is_ new. It's a formal thing and the boys are supposed to ask the girls to join them for it. What in the world was she thinking…"

"Well, it can't be _too_ bad if the PTA agreed to it."

"Yeah, I guess," the blonde murmured.

"Anyway, at least you don't have to worry about anyone else asking Mimi-chan since she's a second year. The dance is for third-years only, but then again, there probably _are_ some boys in our year who aren't too shy about asking her to the dance, especially since it _was _her idea."

"I was thinking about doing that yesterday at the party. Mimi is one of the few girls at this school besides Miyako-chan and Sora, that I actually don't mind hanging around with. Neither of them treats me like a celebrity and they give me attention because they're my actual friends, not like some crazed fan who hangs onto my every word and would go along with anything or everything I say no matter how unreasonable or stupid it is. Hm, well, I guess Chizuru-san is okay too."

"Inoue Chizuru?"

"Yeah, I've always shared classes with her, but didn't really know much about her until a few years ago after Miyako-chan was chosen. She treats me like her sister does, like any other student, but there's the possibility that she's been asked already." He sighed. "Who knows, I may just offer to have my band play the entire time and not worry about it at all…that is if the other guys are up to it."

"Good idea."

"Thank you for _all_ of your support," Yamato sarcastically responded with a sweat drop.

"Glad to have helped." Taichi didn't even notice the cynicism in Yamato's voice, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I better head home. I'll call Sora and try to ask her again later."

"Well, okay, but before you go, whatever happened with Hikari-chan? You never told me."

"Nothing much, really. She told me that she wasn't feeling well and that Daisuke offered to take her home, and on the way, she started to feel better, so the two hung out at Venus Fort and went out for ice cream or something. I also think I remember her mentioning something about going to the arcade, even though it's almost impossible _not_ to at Venus Fort…"

"That almost sounds like a date to me."

"Hikari isn't old enough to date yet! I won't let her! Who _knows_ what's going on through the minds of some of these crazed boys?"

"Taichi, you're being way too protective of her!" Yamato knew that Taichi always wanted what was best for his sister, but this time seemed different from the other ones. He could see Taichi being worried over her health and well-being, but who she chooses to hang around with? 'Something must be going on.'

"W-well, what if a mugger or murderer tries to attack her just because she's a pretty girl? What then?"

"T-Taichi…what are you talking about? Why are you thinking like this all of a sudden? You've never worried like this before. Where is this all coming from?"

"This morning, my father was reading the paper and one of the main stories was about some guy being caught. He was known for attacking young girls, and yesterday he went after some girl and he was about to…do stuff with her," he told his friend awkwardly. "Luckily, someone called it in and actually fought the guy off and saved her. I was just thinking, what if something like that happens to Hikari?"

"Only those who have issues do that type of thing and I doubt that Hikari-chan would get into that kind of trouble. She has friends. If it isn't my brother or Daisuke, then others will probably be around. I'm sure the person who attacked the girl is being punished. Did they say what her name was? I hate just calling them 'the girl' or 'the guy' and stuff."

"From what I remember, they're keeping it quiet. The girl is keeping her identity secret and wants to remain anonymous, and the person who rescued her is _also_ remaining anonymous."

"I wonder why…"

"Yeah, I was wondering that too…"

"In a way, I can understand why the girl might not want the attention, but her rescuer? The person must be a genuine Good Samaritan."

"Who knows, but I'm out of here. No practice and I plan on relaxing! Bye, Yamato."

"Yeah, bye, good luck with Sora."

'Feh…I can play my best in front of this entire ward, but I can't ask out Sora. Does she even like me? She only gave me giri-choco last month for Valentine's…just like she did for Koushirou, Yamato, some of the guys from our clubs and of our year… I just have to get the nerve to ask her before somebody else does, like Yamato said.'  
x x x x x x x

Over in the school library...

"Feature story, feature story, feature story," Miyako muttered while thumbing through the newspaper. "One thing I always hated about the newspaper is that there could be more than one big story. Like this one here about some man." She looked at the picture and frowned. "He doesn't look like he can be trusted."

'Typical of Miyako-chan to judge someone by looks.' She took the paper. "I'm sure that it'd probably make front page news if it's a big story." Glancing through the paper, she decided to try her luck. "I think I found it." She read the title, "Attacker Finally Captured!'

"Attacker?"

"That's the most emphasized story on the page. The guy was 'caught and apprehended' yesterday over near Odaiba University."

"Hurray…a burglar," Miyako yawned. "That can't be the story."

"No, it's not a burglar," she told her while skimming the article. "It's something much worse!"

"A bank robber?"

"No, seriously! This guy, apparently, targets and attacks young girls, defiles them, and then normally kills them once he's done with the girls. There was actually a large reward offered for this man's capture."

"That's awful! I hope he stays in jail for a long time!" Miyako thought for a moment. "Wait, what does that have to do with oneesama?"

"I'm not sure, but this does seem to be the main feature story."

"There must be another story that has something to do with her."

"Who knows," Sora shrugged, as she started to read bits and pieces of the article out loud…

* * *

Attacker Finally Captured!

Yesterday, at about 16:15 (4:15), Doppo Fumio, age 36, was finally caught and apprehended. He is known for targeting young school-aged girls and killing his victims if either provoked by them or when he's "done with them". Doppo Fumio attacked again, only this time, he was unable to carry through with the horrendous attack. A girl, who wishes to remain anonymous, was attacked by the man. She owes her life to a young man who "sensed something was wrong" and contacted the authorities before investigating himself.

"He got there just in time," says police officer, Tsuya Masuyo, lieutenant at the Odaiba Police Station of its Special Investigative Team. "We would not have gotten there in time if it weren't for this young man. He saw what was happening and attacked, saving the girl's life. We do not advise one to approach a person of this nature, as it's very dangerous, but in this case, we are grateful that this boy did."

When asked about what the rescuer was thinking at the time of the assault, the boy responded, "I _wasn't_ thinking. I just knew that I had to help somehow. He was about to hurt her and who knows what else." The boy, who also wishes to remain anonymous, didn't care about the reward and actually turned it down, seeing as how he was more concerned with the victim getting to safety…  


* * *

Sora stopped reading and gasped. "Oh no…"

"Oneesama was the girl and…"

"…Koushirou-kun was the boy who saved her," Sora finished up, shedding a few tears. "He wanted to remain anonymous. That's why that police officer was at his home yesterday. It must was this Lieutenant Tsuya person."

"How could she be attacked? It was still light out! People are usually out."

"According to the rest of the article, he doesn't care whether it's day or not and seems to like girls who have long hair. Once he's found a girl he wants, he abducts the girl, takes the girl to a location, keeps the girl there and does unspeakable things to her. It also mentions that it's rare that he pursues a victim who has someone else with her." Sora shuddered over the thought. "Both Mimi-chan and Koushirou-kun could've been killed yesterday. The two must have ended up separated somehow. I now understand why she didn't want to talk about it."

"Should we tell her aunt and uncle about what happened and why she was so down yesterday?"

"No, let Mimi-chan do it. It's not our place to."

"I guess you're right, but I hate it when people act like that!" Miyako said angrily. "I would make sure that he never sees daylight again if I were judging him so that he never attacks another girl again!"

"I agree, and I don't feel I could judge objectively due to the seemingly overwhelming evidence stacked up against him, and his attacking someone close to me. I now wonder how far he'd gone before Koushirou-kun showed up…"

"You mean…you don't think…" Sora nodded. "No, it couldn't have gotten that far! She probably would've missed school today if it had."

"You're probably right. She probably would have been much worse off if he had. I really can't imagine something like that happening."

"But why didn't she talk about it with us when we came over yesterday?"

"Maybe she was still in shock." Sora stared down at the photo of Doppo Fumio, which was a mug shot and, ironically, the photo Miyako had openly complained about earlier. "Both are going to have to testify to this, since they're both directly involved, and I have this strong feeling that Koushirou-kun is once again keeping this away from his parents."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he was too. He's been keeping secrets a lot lately. He lied about his history project to the Izumis and they didn't know that he was in Hikarigaoka yesterday." Miyako smiled slightly, as something came to mind. "Do you think that if Izumi-senpai were to get married, that he would tell them about it?"

"I should hope so," Sora laughed. "It would be very strange if he were to show up with a wife and a family and their not knowing about it."

"Yeah, that's true."

"I guess we'll just have to wait for Mimi-chan to fill us in on everything else dealing with the attack. I wonder where those two were going this afternoon anyway. They _should_ be studying."

"Maybe they already know the material, but yeah, I wonder where they're going. Either way, now that we know, we can go now."

The two girls walked away from the library.

"Sora-san, don't you have to get prepared for Saturday night?"

"Oh, that dance thing. To be honest, I'm really nervous about it. It's supposed to be formal, almost ball-like. We girls are supposed to wear gowns and the boys should be dressed in suits or tuxedos." Taichi, Koushirou, and Yamato dressed in tuxedos flashed into mind. She felt that all three would look handsome if dressed in such a fashion. "I know everyone was psyched about it, but I've noticed how tense it's getting for some of the other third years. I _am_ going, I would like to…somewhat, but according to Mimi-chan, with those types of dances you're supposed to have a date or an escort."

"But shouldn't you be getting ready for it?"

"It's only Monday, and I haven't been asked by any boy yet…sort of."

"Why don't you ask a boy to go?"

"W-well, um…I'll just worry about that later."

The two girls changed out of their school shoes, and headed home, glad to know Mimi's secret, and at ease understanding why her mood was so disheartening…  
x x x x x x x

A while after class let out…

"Come on, let's go practice," Chinatsu urged, already in her gym clothes.

"I don't feel like practicing today," Ayame yawned.

"Yeah, we don't have any club meetings at all this week since we're spending it studying for all those exams and then having to take them!"

"I want to be one of the best senior members of the Volleyball Club! Others are practicing," Chinatsu argued. "What's wrong with that?"

"We'll have to practice during our spring break anyway, since it's mandatory," groaned Yuuko. "There's nothing wrong with wanting to practice, just go practice by yourself. We're leaving."

The three girls were sitting in the school gym in the top bleachers. Chinatsu had asked Ayame and Yuuko to meet her there and to bring Mimi with them.

"What I want to do is relax," Ayame said while standing up. She stretched. "Let's go, Yuuko-chan."

"Hey look," Chinatsu pointed, "the boys are playing basketball!"

"You know, we really _should_ practice," Yuuko said while sitting back down, staring at the basketball players.

"Yuuko-chan!"

"Aren't they cute," she said, hearts in her eyes.

"I knew that would get her," Chinatsu snickered.

"You know, sitting around watching wouldn't hurt," Ayame began, also retaking her seat just to stare at the basketball players.

'So much for my idea, they'd rather watch the boys play.'

"Ooo, you see that boy over there!" Ayame pointed. "I think he's the co-captain of the Boys' Soccer Club!"

"That position is going to be open pretty soon since he is a third year," Chinatsu explained. "The position of captain is going to be open too, but I'm not sure if any decisions have been made yet. The current captain is Yagami Taichi-san and he is leaving soon. I wonder who will succeed Taichi-senpai…"

"That person there I think is the star player of the Boys' Tennis Club!" Yuuko drooled.

"I bet he's about to go out and practice! He has his tennis gear with him!"

"Ayame-chan, we should probably go out and jog by the tennis courts too!"

"Here I am wanting to improve my game, like the other members of our club are doing, and you two want to sit around and gawk at the boys here." Chinatsu crossed her arms in annoyance. "Besides, we have more important things to discuss anyway."

"Like what?" Yuuko asked while keep her eyes glued to the third-year co-captain of the Boys' Soccer Club.

"Like Mimi-chan, for one. Where is she and what happened after lunch? You never said. I was too busy in my own class to come by after our final class of the day."

"She acted as if nothing had bothered her at all," Yuuko told her. "She laughed at the pictures Ayame-chan showed her. As for where she is now, she said she had to leave, and took off before we could question her about it."

"I don't know what she did after she left us at lunch, but she seemed really different when she came back to class with Koushirou-kun."

"Izumi-kun?"

"I guess she went to see him after leaving us," Ayame concluded.

"He looked a little red after coming back too..." Yuuko absentmindedly pointed out.

"So, I guess whatever happened to her yesterday has been fixed if she was acting more like her usual self after lunch," Chinatsu said.

"I guess so and I was really glad for that. I hate seeing Mimi-chan all depressed."

"Hey, whatever happened to her main four admirers? It just hit me that they weren't bugging us today over where she was during lunch earlier," Yuuko realized.

"Hey yeah, you're right," Chinatsu nodded. "They almost _always_ insist on eating lunch with us to try and weasel information out of us."  
x x x x x x x

"We have to do something to get Mimi-san to forgive all of us!"

"But how?"

"How about a present?"

"She doesn't seem like the type who likes presents to me…"

"SHOWS HOW MUCH _YOU_ KNOW! MIMI-CHAN WOULD FORGIVE US IN AN INSTANT IF WE GAVE HER A NICE GIFT!"  
x x x x x x x

"Well, what do you know, there goes our favorite four supporters of Mi-chan now," laughed Yuuko. "Yuuji-kun is so loud, though. I wouldn't have noticed them if it wasn't for his big mouth."

"Sounds like he said something about forgiveness," noted Chinatsu. "I wonder what happened."

Ayame smirked. "There's only one way to find out."

Yuuko caught on, a sneaky look finding its way to her face. She cupped her hand over her ear. "This is the _best_ way."

The other two did as Yuuko, and tried their bests to listen in on the boys' conversation...  
x x x x x x x

"I feel really bad that we upset Mimi-chan during lunch today," Yuuji sighed.

"Misao-san, this is all your fault."

"_My_ fault? What do you _mean_ it was all my fault?"

"It's just like Ukyo said," Seki scolded. "It's your fault that Mimi-chan is upset with the four of us."

"You were _too_ convincing!" Yuuji yelled to him.

"I really thought you were going to hit him," said Ukyo.  
x x x x x x x

"I wonder what they're going on about," Yuuko muttered.

"I wonder what Misao-kun did to upset Mimi-chan."

"It couldn't have been that bad since you two said she came back to class feeling much better than what she was when leaving us at lunch."  
x x x x x x x

"Don't blame _me_ because I have great acting abilities," the boy smugly responded. "I'm in the Drama Club, which obviously pays off!"

"At what cost, though!" cried Yuuji. "We lost Mimi-chan because of you!"

"I'm surprised at you three. We've known each other for a long time. You know I'm not violent and that I'm not a fighter. I was only trying to scare him!"

"Too bad Mimi-chan didn't see it that way," Seki bluntly remarked.

"Why don't we all just face the facts and admit that we, as well everyone else in our club, have lost our chances with Mimi-san," Ukyo suggested with a dejected sigh.

"No, we can't give up yet!" Yuuji came across as a coach trying to inspire his team to play better or play well. "We are not quitters!"

"Oh come off it! Mimi-san came into the computer lab, defended Izumi-san, and then asked…no…_told_ us to leave! We all found out that whatever was causing her bad mood didn't have anything to do with Izumi-san when they were out together yesterday after they came back to Odaiba, I'm assuming based on the conversation. We might as well give up. You heard what she said and you _saw_ what she did!"  
x x x x x x x

"Ooh," Yuuko nearly squealed. "I _love_ juicy gossip!"

Seki crossed his arms, and sat back a bit. "I'm with Ukyo. There really isn't much we _can_ do now," he responded slowly. "Like he said, you saw what she did with Izumi."

"I'm no quitter! I'm going to get back in good with her again!" Misao insisted stubbornly.

"Me too!"

"That's good and all, but let's just face the facts here. She has no interest in either of us, or any other boy, seemingly, in a romantic sense; it's all platonic," Seki explained. "We should have never threatened him, and you, Misao, shouldn't have pretended to get ready to punch him."  
x x x x x x x

"Wow, there was almost a fight…and I _missed_ it!"

"Yuuko-chan, that's not important," Chinatsu chastised, wishing that, for once, the girl would calm down. "They pretty much said that they made empty threats. What _I _want to know is what she did to make them all so gloomy."  
x x x x x x x

"You guys just watch," Ukyo cautioned wisely. "This time next year, Mimi-san and Izumi-san will probably be an item. I can actually picture those two walking around together, Izumi-san maybe having his arm around her shoulder, or the two walking hand-in-hand."

"No!" Yuuji and Misao shouted out in fear.

"You two are delusional!" Seki argued. "She's already hugged _and_ kissed him and they're just friends! If Izumi doesn't fall for her after that, then he just isn't right!"

"Can we hope that he just doesn't like girls?" asked Yuuji hopefully.

"I'm all for it being true!"

Seki and Ukyo gave Misao and Yuuji a look of disbelief.  
x x x x x x

"_Ehh_!" all three girls said in surprise after hearing the news.

The three ended up falling over, and landing down to where the four boys were.

"What do _you_ three want?" asked Yuuji.

Yuuko picked herself up quickly, grabbed Yuuji by his shirt and started to shake him. "Did you say Mi-chan and Koushirou-kun _kissed_?"

"You're…choking…me…" Yuuji gagged.

"Hey, stop eavesdropping in on our conversation!" Misao told the three.

"That's why we came to the gym since it's kind of noisy in here," Seki said.

"What you're doing is technically an invasion of privacy. How do you know that we weren't speaking of something confidential?" asked Ukyo.

"We could say the same about you four!" Chinatsu pointed accusingly. "We overheard you and we _were_ listening in, since we heard you mention Mimi-chan and the yelling Ueda-kun was doing didn't help, but _how_ did you know that Mimi-chan and Izumi-kun were on a day-trip yesterday away from Odaiba? We never mentioned it to you or anyone _else_ for that matter. Only a few of us knew what her plans were for Sunday and what she was really up to because she told us, and that didn't include _either_ of you."

Yuuji, who was still rubbing his neck, trying to recover from being choked by Yuuko said, "Hey, we were _not_ purposely listening in! We were just listening when we weren't supposed to!"

The other three boys nearly fell over. Seki smacked his cousin in the back of the head. "_Baka_!"

"So you _were_ listening in on our conversation during lunch!"

"And the reason we didn't see either of you _rejects_ earlier was because you were off threatening Koushirou-kun for the bad mood Mi-chan was in!"

"You idiots!" Chinatsu yelled at them. "See what happens when you jump to conclusions!"

"W-well, you were thinking the same thing!" Misao argued back. "We heard you say that you thought Izumi had something to do with her bad mood too!"

"Come on now, everyone. We're all friends here." Yuuko stood and clapped her hands, hoping to regain the peace somewhat. "I just want to know one thing…is it true about what you said about Mi-chan and Koushirou-kun in the computer lab? You all were standing right there when it happened?"

"No, we were watching from the hall. They thought we left, but we were curious why Mimi-chan was so upset."

The three girls gave the four death glares, while the boys gave Yuuji a disapproving look. "You _definitely_ talk too much," Misao muttered. 'He's way too honest.'

"Anyway," Seki began, "she started to cry because of something that happened yesterday, and, apparently, Izumi was feeling really bad for her and was blaming himself for whatever it was that happened. The two came to a mutual agreement that neither were at fault."

"Mimi-san also mentioned something about wanting to go to Odaiba University and the University of Tokyo, but Izumi-san was hesitant on going and didn't seem to want her to go along with him. Either way, after mentioning both places, that's when Mimi-san started to cry."

"It was so upsetting hearing her cry, but she did calm down enough, saying something like crying helped to get rid of her stress, or something," Yuuji continued.

"She _then_ did the most unthinkable…" Misao shuddered.

"…the most _unspeakable_ thing after cheering up!" Yuuji frowned.

"She _kissed_ Izumi!" both cried.

"How did he react to it? Do _not_ leave out a single detail!" Yuuko instructed.

"First, Mimi-san hugged him, and then she kissed him on the cheek, and then seemed to go back to hugging. He seemed a little nervous, and I remember his face being kind of red."

"No wonder she was so happy after lunch today," Ayame said.

"And that's probably why Koushirou-kun looked red when coming back with her!" Yuuko added on.

"It was a _friend_ship kiss," Misao interjected adamantly. "It was _not_ a romantic one! It was just on the cheek!"

"I wonder if it would be considered one in America given the situation…"

"Shut up, will you Seki! Stop telling lies! Mimi-chan lived in America for a while and has even visited there during school vacations before! She knows the customs, and kissing is one of them…I think."

"Hey, don't blame me for you and Misao's stupidity! Ukyo and I are moving on. You two, and countless others, are the ones after a girl who is obviously taken, even if she doesn't realize it yet!"

"Unless it turns out Izumi doesn't go for girls," Yuuji said again hopefully.

"I seriously doubt that," Ayame said, her arms crossed. "Just because he doesn't _act_ interested in girls doesn't mean that he isn't."

"He's just inexperienced when it come to girls, just like how you four are when it comes to _brains_!" Chinatsu reprimanded.

Yuuko started to rub her hands together greedily. "Ooo, who to tell first!"

"_No_ one! If Mimi-chan didn't tell you, Ayame-chan, or even me about what happened with Izumi-kun, then why would she want the whole school to know about it?"

"Yeah, try to keep your mouth _shut_, for once, Yuuko-chan!"

"Couldn't I tell Miya-chan at least?"

"You mean the first year, Inoue Miyako-san?" asked Chinatsu.

"Yeah. We get along very well."

Ayame rubbed her chin. "Well, only if you're discreet about it. Maybe you could hint around, and if she already knows, then go ahead. If it's obvious that she doesn't know, then don't say anything."

This pleased Yuuko. "Bingo!"

"Aww, because of our talking all of this time, we don't have much time left to practice since all the areas of the gym are being used. I have to go home and study for the third part of Ishidzuka's history exam! How Mimi-chan has time to _not_ study is beyond me."

"Wow, your class is already on the third part of the exam?" Ayame asked in amazement.

"Yes, since our class has been finishing early, he's allowed us to take two parts each day, so that we can finish sooner," Chinatsu explained. "Takamatsu-kun can attest to that, since we have the same classes. Ishidzuka-sensei seems to have a lot of confidence in us, and is very positive that we will all receive passing marks. I really hope so. I would hate to come back here and find out that I'm still a second-year junior-high student, even though I don't think that can actually happen."

"That's not why your class is ahead! Your class ranks high when it comes to tests! We're technically all in competition with each other," Yuuko pointed out. "You have a lot of brainy people in your class!"

"We just finished up the second part of his exam," Seki said. "Hey, since we're all in the same boat, would you like to study together at my place?"

Yuuko, who had started to admire Seki more so since he'd pretty much come to his senses about Mimi, eagerly agreed for everyone. The surprising thing about her admiration of Seki was that for the longest time, she'd always had a slight romantic liking towards Yuuji, but would never admit to it. Hanging around Seki, even as just a friend, who wasn't going on and on about Mimi would be nice for a change, even though she wished that Yuuji would come to his senses too.

"Having a study group would actually be a good idea, especially since most of us have the same instructors," Chinatsu said.

"Let's see, I have Konishi-sensei and Tanaka-sensei," Ukyo said, "which means that tomorrow, I have a math exam to take and my English language one."

"English class is so hard sometimes," Ayame complained. "I'm studying a lot! The only person I know, who's not a natural born brain and isn't studying for the tests is Mimi-chan. She has a really high score for all the tests she's taken for that class."

Seki laughed. "She has an advantage since she lived in America for a few years and actually _used_ English in everyday situations, unlike us, who can only stick to book exercises."

"No kidding! Mi-chan is making us _all_ look bad!"

"Misao, Yuuji, are you guys coming with us for a study session?"

"Nah, I'm going to go home and try to think of a way to get Mimi-chan to like me again," Misao told him. 'Besides, I already know the stuff. No need to study.'

"I'm with him!"

"Suit yourselves then, but you _do_ know that apologizing to both her _and_ Izumi is on the top of the list, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Misao muttered.

"You know, I have this feeling that Mimi-chan isn't really mad at you four," Ayame pointed out.

"Yeah, after lunch, Mi-chan saw our photos of you from when you were at the party, and she mentioned how cute you all were," Yuuko smiled mischievously.

Stars formed in Yuuji's eyes. "Wow! She called me cute!"

"Nice, nice, but I'm still going to try and think of a way to get Mimi-chan to like me!"

Seki and Ukyo sighed and shook their heads. They just couldn't believe that the other two didn't understand that Mimi was already taken and that no matter how hard they tried, she'd never see them as anything more than friends.

The group exited the gym, and headed to their lockers to change out of their school shoes. Once done, they exited the school to head over to the Tomokazu home, Seki leading the way.

"Wait a minute, _what_ photos of us?" asked Ukyo, after realizing what they'd said earlier.

The three girls just looked to one another and giggled, as they continued the walk to Seki's neighborhood…

Fic Chapter Changes

First change is that I wrote that Sora had tried calling Mimi and tried to catch her that morning, but ended up missing her. I also added in that Miyako tried. Also added in a brief description of what Mimi's conversation with her mother consisted of. Originally when writing this, I'd forgotten that I had written Sué calling Satoe to help her regarding Mimi's mood.

I added that Koushirou brought lunch from home and I wrote in that Mimi had forgotten her lunch. Originally, I had that she bought lunch, but didn't have an appetite and was playing with the contents of her meal.

I added more to the conversation between Koushirou and Mimi in the computer lab.

I had Miyako actually _tell_ where Mimi went to Yamato and Taichi, whereas originally, I just had her mention that she'd spent the previous day with Koushirou. I cut out the jokes made by Taichi about how spending an entire day with Koushirou would make anyone depressed. I did have something like this originally, but Sora scolded Taichi, who insisted that he was only kidding. I also added in Taichi insinuating and assuming that the two had gone out on a date together.

I tossed in Taichi and Yamato discussing the dance a bit more, and how nervous they were about it since it was literally "new" to them. I also added in Taichi thinking about whether or not Sora liked him. Originally, the only thought going through his mind was how he was going to ask Sora out. Of course I added in the chocolate thing. For Valentine's the girls give boys chocolates. There are two types: Giri Choco and Honmei Choco. Giri Choco = Obligation Chocolates, the types that girls may give to their male friends, classmates, co-workers, etc. Honmei Choco, or "homemade choco", is usually given to guys of romantic interest. Giri choco is usually store-bought, too, where as the Honmei choco is more than likely made, hence the name. They sell kits over there to prepare it.

I cut out Miyako's getting distracted by other stuff in the paper while searching for the "feature story". I felt that it would've been out of character for her. Once Miyako is determined, she usually goes through with it…sometimes overboard. lol


	15. 15  Odaiba University

Hi again everyone. Now everyone knows or have an idea as to why Mimi was gloomy the entire day. I really did have fun with the last chapter, especially towards the end where the boys were reflecting on what to do about their situation with Mimi and the girls overhearing about the hug/kiss that Mimi had given Koushirou. Anyway, I probably won't go back to the others for a while as the chapters are already kind of long. Now, the reason this chapter is long, is due to an original character that constantly has a lot to say. As for notes, I don't anticipate that there'll be any or maybe one or two. As for changes, might have a few relevant ones.

Now, I decided to upload this chapter and the next one together since they're the university chapters, and to just hurry and get them out of the way, so have fun.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 15: University Mishaps…

It only took about a half hour or so for both Koushirou and Mimi to reach Odaiba University, both coming to a silent mutual agreement to not even bring up what happened in the computer lab earlier. The two had gone to the nearby train station and caught a cab from there. Mimi was willing to keep herself calm during the entire ride and to try her best not to lose her composure. Koushirou kept glancing over at her for the duration of the ride, feeling incredibly sorry for her, and also a bit worried. He wasn't sure if the way Mimi was acting was normal or not. It was one thing he just wasn't knowledgeable in. Math, puzzles, and computers were his specialties.

"Here we are, Odaiba University. That will be ¥1220," the driver announced while pushing the button for the door to open. "Wow, you guys are some young looking high-school students."

"We aren't high-school students. We're junior-high-school students." Koushirou handed the fare to the driver, figuring that he thought that they were recent graduates checking out the campus for the next academic school year. "We're only visiting the campus."

The two hopped out of the taxi, and Koushirou made sure to stay there until Mimi was out. After she was out, Koushirou took notice of her. She was holding herself, her look seemed a bit distant, and she even looked a bit paler, as she was staring in the direction where she'd been forced to yesterday.

"Um, w-well, we probably should head on in, that is if you want to, but if you don't-"

"Stop talking crazy!" Mimi cut him off, coming back to reality. "Let's go!"

The girl stomped off, leaving Koushirou behind. Right now, the girl reminded him of a determined Miyako. 'Mimi-san, please don't overdo it…' With that, he followed behind her and entered the building.

"Wow, this place is huge!" Mimi exclaimed.

"It looks much bigger on the inside than it does on the outside."

"Now that we're here, where do we go?"

"When I was looking up information on Odaiba University's website, before your four _boy_friends showed up…"

Mimi blushed slightly. She had always semi-liked the attention, but she wasn't sure if Koushirou was saying that in a joking manner, out of annoyance, or even out of possible jealousy from all the attention she received from boys in general, but felt it was safe to rule out the last possibility. She really didn't feel that it was too likely, and really didn't want it to be. This was Koushirou here. This was the boy who would rather crack a computer code than to voluntarily associate with a person of the opposite sex outside of its being something dealing with business or a school assignment.

The main reason for his lack of interaction with girls in general, was because Koushirou was _very_ shy around them for any other reason aside from those of a non-platonic nature. The only exception, were those like Sora, Mimi, Miyako, and Hikari, who he'd known for the majority of his life. Some people never seemed to take that into consideration; that the boy was just bashful around girls he may have found attractive, not that he didn't have any interest in them what-so-ever.

"…I'd read that we would have to go to the information desk. It should be right in front of us since we came in through the front door."

"I don't think that door we came in was the front. I just rushed right in. I wasn't paying attention. There sure are a lot of students just lounging around here, seemingly doing nothing…"

"And eating! Look at all of the places where you can buy food! It's like a food court!" His stomach growled. 'I should've eaten lunch after all.'

A student with short light-brown hair wearing a pair of long khaki shorts, an orange hoody, and thin-framed glasses clumsily bumped into Koushirou and Mimi, dropping his book bag in the process. He turned to apologize.

"I'm so sorry! I am _such_ a klutz!"

He picked up his book bag and slung it over his right shoulder, but all of his books fell out of it. He sighed as he began picking the books up to stuff them back in before either Mimi or Koushirou could offer to help.

"I was in a hurry, and here I am late again! I hate taking these late evening classes, but I _have_ to if I want to get enough credits to graduate from this blasted place! I can _not_ go home a failure. My family will disown me if I do!" he openly complained. "Damn those three older brothers of mine, always doing well in both their academics and their sports," he grumbled, "and now _my_ parents are expecting the same of me! To graduate with all honors like _they_ did!"

He lifted up his book bag, about to strap it around his shoulder again, but noticed that one of his notebooks was still on the floor. When he kneeled to pick it up, the books he had just spent his time putting into his book bag fell out again. He groaned as he went back to stuffing the books back into his bag and ranting about his family.

"I actually feel sorry for my younger brother and sister. They're probably going to be tortured just like me, although, maybe my brother won't since he's already favored by my father and maybe not my sister since she's the youngest of us. I wouldn't be surprised if they expect her to do something boring and traditional since she _is_ a girl. I know I remember my parents talking about *omiai for her, which would really be bad on her, given how she is! Either way, they'd probably want her to marry and be a housewife and provide children and heirs or maybe become a nurse or a Kindergarten teacher or something like that. My parents are _so_ old-fashioned! They _really_ need to join the 21st century! They should know that I do _not _want to become an engineer or a doctor or any of those things! I want to take up art or either become a professional writer of fiction works!" He stuffed in the last book, and grumbled, "Stupid parents…"

Koushirou and Mimi looked a bit worried, and started to back away slowly.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that!" the boy said, noticing how they were backing away. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything. Just ignore my complaining. I'm just a little stressed." He noticed their attire. "You two aren't from here, are you? Those uniforms look a bit kiddy. You two _must_ be junior-high students." They nodded. "Well, I'm very pleased to meet you. My name is Fujitani Keisuke, but you may call me Keisuke. You almost look like you're lost. Do you need any help?"

Mimi nodded. "We're trying to find the information desk."

"Wow, you two are a little ways off from there. This is the commons area. Everyone comes here to hang out or relax before heading off to their dormitories or class. You guys ended up lost pretty quickly."

"I guess we were so busy admiring the school, that we ended up lost," Koushirou said with a small, embarrassed chuckle.

"It's no problem. I can take you there."

"No, we don't want to trouble you," Koushirou said.

"I don't mind. Who cares if I'm late…again," he laughed. The two thanked him and followed him. "So, what brings you to Odaiba University anyway? Do you have an older sibling who goes here?" Mimi shook her head. "Are you part of a group and just got separated from it?"

"Well, no, actually," Koushirou told him, while making mental notes of the path they were taking to the information desk.

"So you came here on your _own_? I know you're supposed to start looking into universities when young, but you don't have to literally visit them."

"We're just trying to obtain some information," the redhead explained. "Toudai is next on our list."

"There too, eh?" He whistled. "Are you two a couple of geniuses? The entrance exam for Toudai is terribly hard."

"No way!" Mimi pointed to Koushirou. "He's the genius out of the two of us."

He shook his head. "I'm _no_ genius."

"What are you talking about? You always make high scores on our tests!"

"*I'm no genius…I'm just passionately curious," he stated bluntly.

"I guess so. You _do_ seem to be your smartest when you get curious over something, and then try to figure it out, like a certain time when you_ ignored_ me because of that!"

Koushirou laughed uneasily, recalling the situation well. It was when he'd ignored her in the temple, and how neither Mimi nor Palmon let him forget it, which is why he actually recalled it. He cleared his throat. "I kind of hate it when people just assume that I'm some kind of a genius when I'm really not. I just have a good memory and am curious about a lot of things which makes me knowledgeable on that particular subject, because I purposely seek out more information about it. That doesn't make me overly smart in any way. I'm not the type to constantly study nonstop. I do not read the dictionary or the encyclopedia or try to solve unsolvable chemical equations as a past-time."

Keisuke laughed in agreement. "Yeah, only a genius would probably do those things."

"Oh yes, the information we are looking for is incredibly vital."

"If it's not too out of place of me, mind if I ask what kind of information you're looking for? Maybe I could help you out with it."

Koushirou shook his head. "I don't really think you could. You're too young."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he smiled. "I did have three older brothers who attended this university. My oldest brother is about…33 or 34 now. Maybe I can answer your questions based on the boring stories they used to tell me."

"Well, we're trying to find information on one of the old instructors."

"What year?"

"He stopped teaching here due to unavoidable circumstances in 1990."

"My older brother would've been here at that time. I have a big family, as I already mentioned."

As Keisuke started to go on about his family, he stopped walking and went through his wallet, showing photos to the two. "Let's see…this photo here is my oldest brother Kyuwa-niisama. He's turning 34 this year. He's married and is a doctor at the Osaka Medical Center. He finished up his residency a while ago. He lives in Osaka, obviously. He started here in about…let's see, I was about seven at the time…oh yeah, 1988. He graduated from here in 1992 and then went to the Osaka Medical School to finish up. He sent me this photo not too long ago."

Mimi always liked looking at photos, and was very anxious to see the ones Keisuke was sharing. The man in the photo had the same kind of hair like Keisuke, only it was a bit longer. He also seemed short compared to Keisuke. In the photo along with Kyuwa, was his wife, Mimi figured. She had long auburn hair, and in front of them, they had two small children, a boy and a girl. The girl looked to be about three or four, and the boy looked to be about seven or eight.

"It was very challenging for him, but he never gave up! Something we Fujitanis are known for is our devotion and never giving up, no matter how difficult the situation may seem!" Keisuke looked through his wallet again, and pulled out another photo. "Next in line is my brother Masaki-niisan, and he's turning 30 soon. He isn't married. He started here in 1992 and graduated in 1996 and then went to study abroad to work on his Masters and PH.D at Harvard University and teaches Japanese language. He lucked out getting the job at a nearby school."

The man in the photo was dressed up in a suit, and looked to be very neat to Mimi. His hair was perfectly trimmed, his tie was in place, and there wasn't a single wrinkle in his suit. Compared to the tall, slim Keisuke, he too seemed short. Masaki also looked to be a bit husky compared to the other brothers so far.

"Let's see, now this one is Toru-niisan, and he's 26. He's not married either. He came here in 1996 and graduated back in 2000 with lots of honors, just like my other two brothers. He was considering becoming a professional soccer player, but finally decided to focus on anthropology and archeology. Other than soccer, he's always been into history, ancient civilizations, and geology. He's in graduate school now in England at the University of Cambridge."

Toru had long brown hair, slim and tall just like Keisuke and was standing in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, known as the Round Church, one of _the_ oldest buildings in all of Cambridge. He also had a round baby face, like Keisuke, and also wore glasses, but, he didn't really _look_ like Keisuke. Mimi couldn't put her finger on it, though. His hair was tied back into a single ponytail, like most guys with long hair. To Mimi, Toru was _extremely_ cute to her. A small tinge of pink made its way to her cheeks. She couldn't help but wonder what someone like Yuuko would think of Toru.

"This is my younger brother, Yeijiro. He's 20 and started here almost a year ago. He's probably in his apartment studying. He didn't want to stay in a dorm. So far, he's making high scores, like always. He's into researching and science. He's majoring in chemistry. I'm not sure which branch of chemistry he's interested in, though, or what he'll get into once he's done here. I have this feeling that he's going to end up going abroad too, either way, probably someplace in America. Just like with Toru-niisan, he's always wanted to live abroad."

The photo of Yeijiro was a very nice one, in Mimi's opinion. It was a high school graduation photo and on either side of him was an elderly man and an elderly woman. Mimi figured that they were the Fujitani brothers' grandparents. He had short brown hair and didn't look like either of the Fujitani brothers. The other brothers seemed to share some features, but Yeijiro was definitely the odd one out looks wise. His height seemed average and seemed to be a normal size. Mimi figured that Yeijiro took after his mother more so than his father or vice-versa.

"Now, this is my younger sister, Izumi-chan. She's 19. She hasn't started university yet." He rolled his eyes. "My _parents_ haven't fully decided her future yet. My sister and I are the black sheep of the family, seemingly. We're constantly threatened of being kicked out by our family because of what we enjoy."

Izumi had long brown hair, the same round face as Keisuke, and a very pretty smile. Izumi and Keisuke could've been twins. She was a bit tall for your average girl, but still looked to be a nice, normal size.

"And, as you know, I'm Keisuke. I'm 23 and started up here two years ago. I spent my year after graduation arguing with my family about majoring in something more humanities related, but ended up majoring in something more science-based. My sister is going through the same hell as me. She wants to become a songwriter and a musician, but my parents won't allow it, unless she gets into something more dignified, like *enka, not rock or pop. I _really_ sense something like that or *ikebana in her future. She was taught all that stuff over the years, much to her dislike for it.

"I just don't understand my parents. With Kyuwa-niisama, they were fully behind him because he was pursuing a career in medicine, and went on about how it's a respectful profession, and good because, 'you are helping people'. The same goes for Masaki-niisan, whose choices they were also behind. What was _really_ surprising was how they were with Toru-niisan.

"They weren't thrilled about him going abroad, but at first, he wanted to become a professional soccer player! Do you _know_ what the chances are of _any_one going professional in anything is? They were even supportive of him, but were more approving of him when he decided to take up some form of a science. It's just not _fair_!

"With me, they constantly say, 'What are the chances of your becoming a professional artist', and 'There is no future in becoming an artist in this day and age. They all starve', or 'What are the chances of your becoming a published author if you become a writer?' It's the same for my sister. She has a lot of musical talent, and would do great if in a rock band. She can write music, play instruments, and has a great singing voice!"

He was about to continue on with his rants, when he noticed the looks on Koushirou and Mimi's faces, which clearly meant, "Why is he telling us all of this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry for rambling."

"Erm, that's okay," Mimi said while giving him a sympathetic smile. "We don't mind listening to you ramble." Koushirou minded, as he felt it wasn't any of his business to know of how the Fujitani family managed things.

"I really shouldn't be. It's a bad habit I've always seemed to have, talking more than what I should. Well, let's get you to the front desk. I'm sorry for holding you up by giving you my life story."

The three, once again, started off towards the information desk.

"Hey, you never did tell me who the teacher was that you were trying to get information on."

"His name was Fukami Satoru-san. Do you know anything based on your older brothers' stories?" asked Koushirou.

"Hm, sorry. It doesn't ring a bell. Kyuwa-niisama might, though. What did he teach?"

"He was a lecturer of math."

"I was so young when he attended here. Kyuwa-niisama did used to complain about his math and science classes sometimes to Masaki-niisan, but I don't remember if he ever mentioned the names. Kyuwa-niisama and Masaki-niisan all went back and forth to school as opposed to staying at the apartments nearby or in the dormitories, which is why I remember that bit at least. Still ironic how niisama became the doctor of the family."

The three had finally arrived at the information desk. The two had somehow managed to come in on the other side of the school. How was beyond either one of them.

"Here we are. The front desk is right over-uh-oh."

"Keisuke-san, what's wrong?" asked Mimi.

"Good luck getting any useful information out of her," he warned. "It's Anje's shift, and not the other woman's."

"So what's wrong with her?"

Keisuke frowned at Mimi's question while eyeing the woman. "She isn't the nicest person in the world. I actually heard a rumor that she was fired for insulting one of the students' younger siblings recently. I guess they're letting her finish out the week or month or something. She's been snapping at everyone, but I'm not sure if that's the reason for her being fired. I also heard that she's had a bad romantic life and lost her husband or boyfriend or whatever to a much younger girl, which is why she treats everyone so badly in general. She also seems to _really_ dislike children, though, based on the rumor."

"If she's so mean, why is she allowed to be in a position where she has to talk to people?" Mimi stared at the woman curiously. 'I wonder why he only calls her Anje.'

"I have _no_ idea. She must know someone who works here for _her_ of all people to get that type of a job or maybe, at one point in her life, she was actually a nice person. It's too bad that I've never seen her being nice before. She's evil, spiteful, and downright unpleasant. Did you two hear about what happened near here yesterday? Some girl was attacked, and Anje just scoffed over the entire thing, saying that 'the girl probably deserved it'."

Mimi stared up at Keisuke and then back to the woman, her face going partially red in anger. She _definitely_ didn't want to meet this woman face to face if what Keisuke was saying was true. She'd have to use all of her restraint to keep from saying something unnecessary and rude to her. Koushirou couldn't believe that someone could even think that way.

"It's a real shame. I don't know all of the details, but I feel sorry for the girl that was involved. When the commotion started up, I headed out there, but I didn't get a good look at the girl or the other person those around claimed was there. I only saw the guy who attacked the girl. The only thing I know about the girl was that she was supposedly pretty according to my friend, Yutaka-kun. That aside, I really hope she's okay."

"I'm sure that she's fine," Mimi uttered softly, with as little emotion as possible. She was trying to keep herself from crying as she was going out of her way to not think of the previous day.

Koushirou looked to his friend sadly. "Mimi-san…"

"I'm sorry. I'm okay, just the thought of someone saying something so heartless and cold upsets me," she stated rather quickly.

"Leave it up to one guy to make us decent ones look bad, but thinking about it, that's something you two shouldn't have to worry yourselves over." The clock chimed. It was now 17:30 (5:30). He sighed. "I better get going, but before I do, what are your names? I spent so much time scaring you with my life story, I never got the opportunity to ask and I didn't give you much of one for you two."

"Izumi Koushirou."

"Tachikawa Mimi."

"It was nice meeting you, and once again, I'm sorry for boring you with my twisted family with their messed up, out-of-date priorities."

"That's okay, Keisuke-san. Mimi-san and I thank you for showing us here."

"It was no problem at all and good luck with Anje. Oh yeah, I know you're probably wondering about the name. Well, that's what we _all_ call her, so don't worry about it. Oh yeah, if you ever need help with anything, just ask around for me. I could always ask my brother about that instructor you were looking for information on."

With that, the boy rushed off, leaving the two at the information desk.

"Keisuke-san is a very nice person, and I'm willing to bet that Toru-san is too!"

"How would you know if you've never even _met_ him?"

"Ooh, the desk! Go on and ask your question!"

Koushirou gave the girl a look, almost wondering why she seemed to change the subject so abruptly. With that, he walked up to the desk where a pretty woman, who looked to be in her mid to late 30s, with bouncy black hair, sat, filing her nails, and seemed semi-annoyed while doing so. Due to the woman's focus being on her nails, she'd yet to see either Koushirou or Mimi. When she blew on her nails, she looked up to see the two standing there. She rolled her eyes at them, as if preparing herself for the worst.

"Um, hello there…Ou-Ouguchi-san," Koushirou began hesitantly, hoping that he wasn't misreading the woman's name plate. 'Big mouth Anje? Is that right? Her whole name is kind of strange.'

"Yeah, whatever, that's my name."

"Well, yes, Ouguchi-san, I am trying to obtain some information about a former instructor."

"That helps me _so_ much," she sarcastically replied.

Mimi didn't care for this woman already, and was even more irritable than what Keisuke had warned them of.

"Why are a couple of kids snooping around here anyway? What makes you think that _I _would know about the person you're looking for information on?"

"Maybe because this is the infor_ma_tion desk," Mimi shot back smartly, though unintentional.

"Whatever," she huffed. "Who do you want this information on?"

"Fukami Satoru-san. He was a lecturer of math here, but stopped teaching here almost 14 years ago because-"

"Why do you want this information on him?" she rudely interrupted.

"I guess I could say for my own personal use. I'm working on something and I need more information or a photo or anything you can find on him so that I may finish it. It's very important that I obtain this."

"You sure are pushy," the woman muttered sourly.

"Old hag," Mimi muttered under her breath in English.

"What did you say?" demanded Anje.

"Oh rad!" She wasn't sure if Anje knew any English terms or slang, and decided to cover up just in case.

"Whatever," she growled. She was growing to hate Mimi more by the minute. "Why in the world do you want information about a man who no longer works here?"

Growing annoyed over being questioned as if he were on trial, he nearly snapped back at her. "Because I _do_, that's why!"

"You have _no_ right coming in here acting all disrespectful to me! Don't you know that you're supposed to respect your elders, _boy_?"

"It is very difficult to respect or consider you an elder when you are acting like a child yourself," he responded coolly before he realized it.

"Ugh! That does it! I can't _stand_ kids, especially ones like your kind! I came here so I wouldn't have to put up with brats!"

"But that's not fair!" the redhead protested.

"Not so cool now, are you?" she sneered. "It isn't _fair_ that kids like you exist! Whatever happened to controlling the _pet_ population! There are too damn many of you!" The woman raised her voice, and began shouting at them. "Now get the hell out of here you redhead, and take your bimbo of a girlfriend with you! I hate her kind the most! Probably nothing but a slut! A hussy who steals men from more deserving women!"

Some of the students who had passed by, heard what the woman had said to the two, and muttered amongst themselves over how the woman shouldn't even be allowed in the building. Others were surprised that she was allowed to associate with fellow human beings given her attitude problem, and how that definitely made the school look bad. Amongst the students was Keisuke, who had actually forgotten that his class wasn't meeting and won't for the next couple of weeks. Since he had no class, he decided to come back to see how Koushirou and Mimi were doing with Anje and to get a bite to eat in the commons area. When he walked up there, he'd heard what she'd said about Mimi being a 'bimbo' and even worse, 'a slut' and a 'hussy'.

Koushirou and Mimi were too shocked to say much of anything. Keisuke walked up to the two. This woman wasn't just rude, she was downright impossible. Keisuke definitely hadn't prepared them for that. Mimi was _really _at a loss as to how she should respond to the insult, seeing as how she'd never received one before, not in the way Anje had delivered it, anyway. She was almost ready to blow her top at the lady and to give her a piece of her mind. She was already upset over how Anje felt that Doppo's victim was deserving of it, but the other insult was just as bad. One advantage of living in New York for a while was that she had toughened up slightly.

Mimi was just about to argue, but Keisuke spoke up first. "_An_je! How could you talk to them like that? Just because you dislike children doesn't mean you should take it out on them! Not only is it unfair and disrespectful, it's unprofessional of you too!"

"Stay out of this!" the woman snapped at him. "Stop getting on my case for stating the truth! That boy _is_ a redheaded brat and that girl with him is an annoying ugly hussy!"

Keisuke, as well as the other students around, were starting to get upset with this lady. Koushirou on the other hand had nearly reached his limit, and was so annoyed over her attitude that he dropped that polite and courteous guise that he was well known for.

"Look here _lady_," he pointed a finger at her threateningly, "I don't care if you dislike children or not, but you have _no_ right insulting us just because we _are_ still children to you! Also, how _dare_ you insult Mimi-san! She's prettier to me than a person like you could _ever_ be…"  
x x x x x x x  
Mimi stared at Koushirou briefly, taking in what he'd just said. 'Did he just say that I was pretty?'  
x x x x x x x  
"…because she's kind and caring and nice to everyone. She has a great personality and she is definitely _not_ a bimbo because bimbos tend to be brainless and dumb! She's definitely not a slut or a hussy, because she's pure and innocent! You are quite ugly yourself with that attitude of yours! Ten _times_ it in fact!"

"Koushirou, don't waste your time." She gave the lady an arrogant look. "Anje-_baba_ is just jealous because I actually _have_ people who care about me, unlike her!"

Everyone who was gathered around clapped for the crack delivered by Mimi, and for the way both Koushirou and Keisuke had stood up to her.

"Why you little…" she huffed under her breath. The lady picked up the phone on her desk, about to call in security, when a heavyset man cut through the crowd to get to the front desk.

"Is there some kind of a problem here?" the man asked.

"Yes, Watanabe-san! There are," she gagged while pointing to Koushirou and Mimi, "_children_ on the grounds and they're causing trouble."

"She was insulting towards us. I asked her for help and just because of our ages, she treated us disrespectfully."

"Children are meant to be seen, _not_ heard!" she hissed.

"You know, Ouguchi-san," began Keisuke, who only called her as such because of the man nearby, "that's what we call discrimination. You can get into trouble in some places for doing something like that." He gave her a smug look.

"Why don't you go back to whatever class it is you're here for that you're probably failing anyway? You're one of those Fujitani brothers, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am; what of it?"

"You're the one that's shaming your family, aren't you? You're the big disgrace of your family!" Those around gasped at the woman's harsh words. "I know _all_ about you since your brothers have a legacy here. The Fujitani family, one of the oldest around in this area, have always had high praise! Now, you on the other hand, stand out like a sore thumb with all of your brothers being successful and worth something, but you're the complete opposite! You have a younger brother, who attends here too, and he has all honors, great at sports…and then there's _you_. I'm surprised you even passed the exam to get into this university, and it wouldn't surprise me if you don't even graduate with your class, unless you bribe your way out!"

Keisuke managed to keep his cool, though it was difficult, and grew pretty defensive. He couldn't help but wonder how his younger brother, Yeijiro, would've reacted to the statement.

"Don't get mad at me just because you can't seem to get along with people! I may be the outcast of my family, but at least I'm choosing my own path! Just because my brothers were great in all that _they_ were interested in doesn't mean that I will be in something that doesn't interest me at all!" he spat back. 'That _does_ it! I'm going to switch my major and I'm going to study literature. I hate science! I want to become a professional writer, and if mother and father disapprove and threaten to kick me out of the family, then _too_ bad! At least I'll be happier pursuing something that's literally interesting to me!'

"Another child that would be better off _not_ existing…"

"I'm an adult!"

"Look here you runty four-eyed-"

"That is enough!" Mr. Watanabe bellowed before Anje could get another word out. He then turned to all of the people who'd gathered around, bowed, and apologized. He then instructed everyone to disperse.

Keisuke remained after the others had gone. The man apologized even more so to the boy for the things Anje had said about his family. He then turned his attention to Koushirou and Mimi, and pulled them aside.

"Please, on behalf of the university, we are truly sorry for the way Ms. Ouguchi acted. This was supposed to be her last week here, but the way she just carried on was very uncalled for. I will definitely report her to the head of the board. I am sure they will be in agreement about letting her go earlier than expected.

"That aside, I am Watanabe Toshika, head of the Admissions Department here at Odaiba University. What's the problem?"

Mimi crossed her arms. 'That _woman_!'

"Are you two considering attending here once you're finished with high school?"

"No sir. We haven't looked into that yet. We are here to find some information on a past instructor."

"A past instructor?" He rubbed his chin. "Hmm, I might be able to help you with that. I've been here a long time and I got to know the staff as if they were family."

"Thank you sir! I'm Izumi Koushirou, and this is my friend, Tachikawa Mimi-san. I'm trying to find some information on a former math lecturer by the name of Fukami Satoru-san. He taught here up until his unexpected expiration back in April of 1990."

"Oh, yes, Fukami-san. I remember him," the man frowned. "He was one of the youngest instructors here. He was a great man, Fukami. He was a really dedicated teacher. The last time I really _associated_ with him was at that party that the faculty threw after he and his family returned from a conference in America. He stayed there a bit later because of his wife at the time.

"I don't know what kind of information I could give about him aside from the obvious." He scratched his balding head. "Both he and his wife were killed in a car crash. The couple also had a child, but who knows whatever happened to him. Fukami-san didn't have any other family aside from his wife, and I'm sure that she didn't have any. I also heard that the boy was with them when the two died, but managed to survive the crash unharmed. I don't know anything more than that. I'm assuming the boy was eventually placed.

"Other than what I said, is there anything else I can do to assist you?"

"Well, I was wondering exactly why my fa…Fukami-san decided to teach here and how he came here or maybe photos if you have anything like that."

"Well, I feel he came here for two reasons, the first one being that we had an opening and the second was for his love of mathematics. Seems he wanted to share his knowledge with others. His teaching methods were also kind of different. He wasn't the type to just have you open up your textbook while he worked from the chalkboard, writing up different equations and all that. If the students couldn't figure out one of his math problems, he would let the students test him and his work wasn't always right when he worked them out, but I think he purposely did that so that the students would have some confidence. I only think so because when the students took it, they would always brag about how they scored better than 'Fukami-hakase'or 'Fukami-san', who would turn around and give the students even more challenging work. I'm sure the students caught on, though, but that did challenge them.

"As for photos, no, we don't have any. I don't have any, and the ones that were around at the time were damaged in a small fire. We didn't lose much, but photographs and old publications were damaged. We did used to have a memorial dedicated to him but that was taken down many years ago. Who _knows_ where all of that stuff is now."

"Thank you, sir, for that information. It was very helpful." The look on Koushirou's face was a bit resolute, filled with a bit of disappointment.

Mr. Watanabe stared at Koushirou closely and started studying him. 'This boy reminds me of Miki-chan a little bit. It's that hair of his…'

After the formalities of thanking one another, he slowly walked off with Mimi a short ways behind him. They started past the information desk, noticing Anje scowling at the two of them. Koushirou was going to ignore everything dealing with the woman as he just wanted to leave. Keisuke was a little ways away as well. He had been waiting for them, and was going to offer treating them to a meal since they'd had such a rough evening."

"Koushirou-kun, Mimi-chan…" He ran over to them. Before he could ask anything, Anje started up.

"Did you get your worthless information on your old teacher," the woman asked presumptuously while filing her nails.

"Anje is still at it," muttered Keisuke. He was about to defend the two, but a certain redhead beat him to it, as the comment had irritated him immensely.

"Yes, I managed to get some information on my _father_, which I tried to get when coming here yesterday, but of _course_ some _idiot_ had to cause trouble by being sex crazed, which hindered our search even more!" Koushirou continued on with his rants, which, more than likely, consisted of mostly pent up anger and irritation that had been building up for quite some time. "Yes, I managed to get information about a man I never had the honor of meeting because I never knew of his existence, as that fact was kept away from me for years! About my not being their real son! Living a lie for all of my life about who I really am and about where I really come from! Yes, I _did_ find out about him. I now understand why I have a love for math and working with computers and why I have this yearning to obtain and retain knowledge! _Yes_, I got some of the information I was looking for that I've been seeking for a good while now, no thanks to you…you, you…"

Koushirou refrained from finishing and gave off a frustrated yell to keep from saying something that would make Mrs. _Izumi_ ashamed to associate with him.

"His father…yesterday?" Keisuke blinked, putting two and two together.

Koushirou ran out of the front door, leaving the puzzled looking woman behind.

"His father?" Anje wondered.

Mimi gave Keisuke an apologetic look, and then rushed off after Koushirou.

'Poor Koushirou-kun. Hey, wait a minute! He mentioned something about yesterday. Even though that attack caused a lot of commotion, that shouldn't have kept him from getting the information he needed and I'm assuming Mimi-chan was with him, since he said 'our search', not 'my search'. Could that mean…that… No, could it? Mimi-chan must was the one attacked yesterday! Her reaction to Anje was a strong one after I told her about what she said about the victim! I just _had _to go and talk about it! That probably made her feel terrible!' He smacked his head in stupidity. 'Keisuke no _baka_!'

"What in the world happened?" asked Mr. Watanabe.

"Father?" Anje said again. "That redheaded delinquent said something about the teacher he wanted information for was his father…"

"His father? _That's_ the child? That boy was the child that Fukami-san brought back after the conference! No _wonder_ he resembled his wife so much! It's her son! That boy _can't_ be any older than 14 or 15 years old. Of _course_ I wouldn't recognize him. The last time I saw that child, he was under a year old and I barely remember what he looked like from then." He turned to Anje angrily. "You _really_ messed up! We've tried to be lenient since you're the President's niece, but you had no _right_ to treat that boy and his friend like that! That boy's mother _and_ father were both killed shortly after they returned from America years ago."

'The parents of Koushirou-kun died in an accident? Does that mean that he grew up as an orphan?'

"Who cares? People die," she jeered. "At least they died together as a _loving_ couple," she cynically mocked.

Mr. Watanabe shook his head. He just didn't understand why this woman was filled with so much hatred and disdain…  
x x x x x x x  
"Koushirou! Chotto matte yo!" Mimi called out in a slight whine while trying to catch up to him. The last thing Mimi wanted was to walk around on the streets, especially within the vicinity of the school, by herself. Even though the occurrence was a rare one, she still didn't know if she'd ever feel safe anymore due to what _did_ happen. It was almost 18:30 (6:30) and it was getting pretty dark out.

Hearing his name being called, he stopped running, trying to keep his angry tears from flowing. "That old…ugh!" the boy nearly cursed. "I should give her a computer virus so extreme that it'll wipe out her entire hard drive, and no matter how hard she tries, she'll be unable to retrieve or restore anything!"

Mimi grabbed the boy by his arm, which calmed his resolve some. "Koushirou, please calm down. At least we know what your father was like. You learned a lot from Mitsuishi-san."

"One photo, that's all I ask. Why in the world can I not find one?"

Mimi let go of his arm and gave him a small smile. "We will, you just have to remain positive. I know that we'll get all the information that you need to find out more about your real parents and I promise to help you in the best way that I can."

Koushirou smiled in spite of himself and nodded to her. "Thanks."

"We do have a lot of information already thanks to Mitsuishi-san. We even found out how you were born in America."

"That is true." Right at that moment, Koushirou's stomach growled some. "Mimi-san, would you like to grab a bite to eat for dinner? I never had the chance to treat you yesterday like I originally promised."

'He was _serious_ about that?' the girl thought in surprise. "W-well, um, s-sure, if you'd still like to."

"O-okay. Well, let's go."

Koushirou started off, Mimi joining him. She had no idea where he was going or if he was just going to go to the first place he came to.

"Hey, Koushirou, what is your opinion on Misao-kun, Yuuji-kun, Seki-kun, and Ukyo-kun?"

"They're okay, I guess."

"Do you _really_ think that they were going to hurt you?"

"Hm, not entirely. I do know that Takamatsu-san isn't the type to fight. He didn't even seem to be swinging hard," he told her. 'I'm not going to let her know that I feel almost the complete opposite.'

"I'm glad to hear that. I think I'll forgive them. They were just concerned about me."

"I guess…"

"B-but I'm not going to say or do anything until they apologize to you first, of-of course!"

"That's nice…"

Mimi realized that the conversation wasn't going anyplace, and really didn't want to walk in an awkward silence either, like the time a few days earlier when he walked her home.

"You know, we're getting all of this good information for the project, but we haven't come up with a way to present it. We only have until the end of the week."

"Oh yeah, you're right!"

"Not to worry though, I'm sure we can come up with _some_thing."

Koushirou and Mimi continued walking until the boy stopped in front of a cozy looking place, with a semi-full parking lot. "In the mood for Italian cuisine?" he asked coolly. 'I saw this on the map earlier. I'm sure she'll enjoy a place like this and the prices are pretty reasonable.'

"W-wow, but this is Saizeriya. Isn't this type of place expensive? I don't have that much extra on me."

"Don't worry about it," he told her confidently. "I said that it was my treat."

Mimi couldn't argue, and the two entered the family-style Italian restaurant with all of the Italian decorations and pictures throughout the place. They were led to a booth and given a menu.

The two looked over the items on the menu. Mimi saw a lot of tasty looking foods and decided on having a melon soda and a spaghetti dish with a gorgonzola white sauce. Koushirou was actually in the mood for pizza, but decided to get a pasta dish instead. He also decided to order an appetizer for them, an order of garlic toast, which came with four pieces of toast. For his meal, Koushirou ordered spaghetti and some oolong tea. The two were given moist towels to wipe their hands off. After a short wait, the garlic toast and the drinks were served. The toast was left in the middle of the table and two smaller plates were set in front of the two. Koushirou put two on Mimi's plate and the other two on his.

"I can't believe how rude that woman was," Mimi complained while nibbling on her toast. "She had no right to insult us like that!"

"Most definitely," he nodded. "Just to think, she's supposed to be our role model and mentor since she's our elder. I can't help but wonder how she ended up like that in the first place."

"Who knows, but are you going to go back and apologize to her?"

Koushirou finished down his first piece of toast and shook his head. "I have nothing to be sorry for," he firmly told her. "She was rude to us and the worst of all was her treatment of you. She had no right to refer to you in such a manner. I apologize for being out of character there, but I couldn't hold back. Something just…snapped in me."

Mimi gave him a coy smile, noticing the embarrassed look on his face. "In a way, I kind of like that side of you. It's a side that I don't think I've ever seen before. I'm glad that you defend yourself when it's necessary."

"Th-thank you, but, I think I'll go back and apologize to Watanabe-san for making a scene."

"Hm, either way, I feel that it's very admirable that you stood up for me. I was also glad that Keisuke-san came back to defend us too. I wonder if Toru-san would have done the same…"

Koushirou cut her a suspicious look. "What is it with you and Toru-san?"

She began to nibble on her second piece of toast, and abruptly changed the subject. "So, what are you going to do to present your project?"

"I haven't really given it much thought. I suppose I could do something nice and simple, like a Power Point presentation. Ishidzuka-sensei never did specify what he wanted; just that it couldn't be something boring, whatever that means."

"I know about that program a little. You can do slide shows and stuff on the computer. Don't you usually need pictures for that?" Mimi guzzled down some of her soda.

"Yes, but I'm sure I'll manage to find something."

The two were silent again, Koushirou drinking his tea. Mimi found it amazing how this boy could drink oolong tea with pretty much anything. Either way, she still hated the fact that they were both quiet again and figured mentioning the project was the cause of it.

"So, um, Koushirou…you never _did_ tell me what happened yesterday with-with the police."

He looked across at her surprisingly. "I didn't think you'd want to get into something like that."

"You're right, I really don't, but I feel that I should know everything and what we'll have to go through later."

"If you say so," he sighed. He ran his hand through his short red hair, trying to determine where to begin the story. "Well, Lieutenant Tsuya came over yesterday as opposed to the sergeant. Luckily, my parents weren't around…"

"Why was that lucky?"

"I don't really want them to know. They don't know why I went to Hikarigaoka or _where_ I went yesterday, and given the circumstances, I don't feel that I should tell them," he explained wistfully. 'I don't want them to feel that I'm trying to replace them…I just want information and that's all. I refuse to let it go beyond that…'

"Oh…"

"Well, all she did was talk about the reward that I specifically said I wanted no part of, but she kept insisting on it. I finally told her, I'll get back to her on that, and only after I talked to you about it. We also talked about the press and I asked her to remind them that whatever they write and print to make sure that the two of us remain anonymous. I-I'm sure that you wouldn't want something like that publicly known, especially at school. I also wouldn't want that type of attention, but I really insisted because of you and your state. I feel that you should talk about those types of things when you are ready to, not by force from the inquisitive ones around you…I know I would dislike it."

"That was really nice of you," the girl responded slowly.

"I wasn't sure what to do. I just felt it would be better for you if we weren't directly mentioned. Even if I were mentioned and you weren't, I'm sure someone would've put the pieces together and determine that the other person was you, especially since you probably mentioned you were spending the day with me."

'He's right. That was really thoughtful of him.' She took another sip of her soda. "So…how much was the reward?"

"What?"

Before Mimi could ask again, the server came back with their orders. The both of them thanked her. It was now a little past 19:00 (7:00). It took a while to get their dishes prepared because there was a lot of business that evening, which the server apologized for. After the server had walked off, Koushirou was ready to jump into his spaghetti, but stopped and waited for Mimi.

Mimi's eyes seemed to light up to the boy. "Oh! This is so delicious! You really do pick good places to eat, Koushirou."

"I wouldn't mind a pizza after this," the boy said while rolling up the spaghetti on his fork. He hadn't even heard what the girl had said, as he just knew that the meal wouldn't fill him up completely. 'Hm, guess I'll eat my lunch from earlier today after I get home, or eat whatever mother's cooked for dinner or both maybe…'

Mimi could only sweat drop over the statement. 'He has such a big appetite for such a small guy. He's like a-a garbage disposal! The strange thing is that he never seems to gain any weight,' the girl thought as she watched the boy consume the food. "So, how much was the reward?"

"The reward was actually somewhat high. The families of the previous victims had pooled together a lot of money for his capture and it came to ¥10,000,000 which is close to about…$100,000 from what I figured after converting it over. It seems that all of the victims picked up by that guy, coincidentally, came from well-to-do families. The girls were also the types who'd always dress really nicely and would go to spas and get many beauty treatments, which made them even greater targets, along with their long hair.

"Before you say anything, I researched the guy. I'm not going to go beyond what I just said, though. It's too horrendous to continue it."

"I understand, but why did you waste the time to convert it over to American currency?"

"After looking up that Doppo guy, I felt I needed something to do to get my mind off of everything, so I tried to convert it over. It was also good practice for me. We have to take our English test soon."

"That's true."

"I still can't help but wonder why we first and second years are doing all of this testing. We don't normally do so at this time of the year."

"It's even more unfair that only _our_ school is going through this!"

"I wonder if it's their way of compensating for agreeing to the dance idea."

"Who knows…"

The girl had been eating pretty slowly, and had grown quiet. For once in Koushirou's life, he noticed. Normally when it came to food, he tuned the rest of the world out. He saw that her plate was still nearly full, while his was almost empty.

"Mimi-san, is something wrong?"

"Well, no…not entirely," she slightly frowned. "I was just thinking about yesterday again, even though I promised myself I wouldn't, but I just feel very guilty over it."

"Guilty? Why are you feeling guilty?"

"For _not_ telling my aunt, mother, father, or uncle about what happened. My aunt was very worried about me last night, and even called my mother. I spoke with her for a while, but didn't really get into what had been bothering me." She sighed. "For once, since I've come back here, I'm homesick for America. I wish my mother were here. I really feel that I need her…my father too, but not as much as her right now…or if I can't see her…maybe Palmon. She would always listen to me and lend an ear…"

The redhead, when pushing the button to recall the server, noticed that Mimi was trying to keep herself from crying, and was uncertain as to how he should even respond to what she'd said. Everything was just getting so difficult for him with her. He was starting to miss the good old days where they would talk about fun things, even if he couldn't relate to everything she found fun and vice-versa for her with him when it came to figuring out how computers worked, but they did usually enjoy the company of one another. He felt it was sad how one incident could cause so much tension and unease.

"Well…um…what do _you_ want to do?" asked Koushirou as the server returned to refill their drinks.

"A part of me wants to share it, but another part of me feels ashamed if I do because they would worry and probably try to shelter me again as a way of protecting me. I do _not_ want that again. My own parents made that mistake with me, and look at all of the trouble it caused!"

"What do you mean? What trouble did it cause?"

"Our first adventure in the Digital World." She continued eating her pasta.

"Oh, that. Well, I don't think that should really count. None of us were prepared for such an adventure."

"But it took me a much longer time to grasp onto the reality of our situation, like Takeru-kun in some ways, because of how sheltered I was! Moving back out here has given me that sense of independence that I'd been yearning for and my aunt and uncle really believe in me when it comes to my independence. I just feel that if I share this with them, that they'll start treating me like my younger cousins, who actually _do_ need to be watched over given their ages."

"I really wouldn't worry about that. I know of your aunt and your uncle, and I don't think they'd try to keep you in the house against your will just because something so unfortunate happened."

"I hope so…"

After that, Koushirou decided to steer the conversation away from such a depressing topic, and started to talk about something more fun-filled. For Mimi's sake, he started to talk about her four admirers, which prompted Mimi to tell him about how they'd dressed for Sora's party. Koushirou was really surprised that they'd done something so silly and actually couldn't help but laugh at the thought. Mimi laughed as well, going on about how she should get "Ayame-chan to print out the pictures".

Once done with their meals, Mimi asked Koushirou if he was full. He just lied and told her "yes".

"So, Mimi-san, would you like some dessert?"

"D-dessert?"

"Yes, and I have the perfect thing in mind." He pushed the button on the table. "The food server should be returning soon; I'll order it for you."

"B-but…"

"Mimi-san, this is my present to you for yesterday. I had already had this in mind. Please enjoy it."

"Oh-okay…" She wasn't sure how to respond.

After the food server returned, Koushirou ordered Mimi one of the restaurant's latest specialties, a slice of their white chocolate cheese cake. Mimi was surprised at the combination, but the boy recalled Mimi going on one time about New York style cheesecake every time she would talk about foods from having lived there.

"Thank you so much, Koushirou."

After a while, the server returned with the exquisite looking slice of cake. Mimi offered Koushirou a piece, but he turned it down and kept reiterating that this was his gift to her for yesterday. After the first taste, her eyes sparkled. It was very good.

Once done, the server gave them their check, which came to ¥1720.

"Koushirou, that's a lot. Let me pay at least part."

"It's no problem. I already offered to pay."

"But with that amount, it'd be unfair to have you pay the entire bill."

"Don't worry, it's no problem…besides, I really want to…"

"Th-thank you."

He smiled to her. "You're welcome, and I'm really glad you enjoyed the meal." He pulled out the ¥2000 note that he'd received from his father just a few days earlier and paid the bill. After receiving his change, the two headed home. Given that it was past 20:00 (8:00), they took a taxi back, though Mimi was a bit reluctant to do so.

Koushirou paid the cheap cab fare after arriving at the Nishimura home, and hopped out along with Mimi.  
x x x x x x x  
Inside of the Nishimura home were Miyako and Sora. They had just been let in by Mrs. Nishimura and were in the sitting room. Sué was surprised over how Mimi hadn't even arrived home yet and how Miyako and Sora were there before her. Miyako and Sora then heard a car pull up. Looking through the window, they saw two familiar figures getting out of it.

"Is that Mimi-chan?" asked Sora.

Miyako tried to get a better look. "It looks like both her and Izumi-senpai."

The two watched Koushirou and Mimi as they talked, curious as to what they could have been saying, as they couldn't hear from where they currently were.  
x x x x x x x  
"I'm sorry that we didn't manage to find out everything that you wanted to today."

"That's okay. It's like you said, we learned a lot from Mitsuishi-san."

"So, what are we going to do tomorrow night?"  
x x x x x x x  
*RP cues the Pinky and the Brain Theme*  
x x x x x x x  
"The same thing I try to do _every_ night, Mimi-san...try to take over Microsoft!" He laughed diabolically.

"Huh? What?" She started to look around. "Where is that music coming from?"  
x x x x x x x  
*RP cues the music to stop*  
x x x x x x x  
"Erm, I guess we go to the next school on the list, which is Toudai."

"So, I guess we'll go there after school lets out."

"If you'd like. We can take the train there and the fare would be pretty cheap too for that distance. Let's see," he began to mutter, "the main campus is in Bunkyou and the closest station to there would be…Hongo sanchome-eki, but since we're on the Yurikamome line, we'll have to transfer a couple of times, since Hongo sanchome can be reached if on one of the trains of the Toei Oedo Line or the Tokyo Metro Line…" He looked back to Mimi. "It'd be faster than taking the bus and I'll plan out a route for us later."

"Okay. That could work."  
x x x x x x x  
Meanwhile, back in the house…

"Oh, I can't hear what they're saying from here!" complained Miyako. "I'm going outside."

"Miyako-chan, we shouldn't…"

"It'll be fine. We'll just open the front door and stand there so that we can greet Mimi-oneesama when she comes in."

Sora didn't protest, as she knew it wouldn't have done any good, and followed Miyako back outside.  
x x x x x x x  
The two stood there for a while in a tense silence.

"Well, I guess this is goodnight," Koushirou responded awkwardly. He didn't understand why he had knots in his stomach, or why his heartbeat seemed to become more rhythmic than earlier. One thing was certain, for some unusual reason, he wasn't ready to part ways with Mimi yet. He wanted to spend more time with her. 'Why? She's just Mimi-san…'

"Y-yeah, I'll see you during lunch tomorrow. I'll meet you in the computer lab. How's that?"

"S-sure thing."

Mimi walked backwards up the walkway, waving. "Thank you very much for dinner! I enjoyed it very much, especially the cake."

"It's no problem," he called back to her. "If you would like, we could go out again, my treat. You can also choose the place if you'd like, since tonight's place was somewhat spur of the moment."  
x x x x x x x  
"_Dinner_!" both girls exclaimed.

"They went out on a _date_?"

At that moment, Sué joined the two, overhearing Miyako's accusation of Mimi being out on a date. "Did you two say something about a date?"

"Oh no. We were just trying to…"

"…agree on a date to go out during our spring vacation," Sora said.

"Well, that's nice, but I still wish Mimi-chan were here. It's not really late, but she _is_ usually home by now and she usually always tells us if she's going to come home later than usual so that I don't prepare too much for dinner. I guess it's okay though since you two mentioned she was spending the evening with Koushirou-kun again."

"Take a look. Mimi-chan is here now, and Koushirou-kun is at the end of the pathway."  
x x x x x x x

"I can't wait! I'll see you tomorrow at school."

The girl couldn't help but smile a little. She really _was_ looking forward to spending time with Koushirou again. She turned around to walk up the pathway. Once reaching the front door, she ended up facing an exasperated aunt, a curious Sora, and a nosy Miyako.

"I'm glad you finally got home," Sué told her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you or anything. I really lost track of the time."

"Mimi-chan, with you living here, you have to realize that your uncle and I are, in a way, responsible for you, so if it's not too much of a bother, please let us know whenever you're going to come home later than usual. If I know ahead of time, I won't have to cook as much."

"Yes, ma'am."

"No need to be so formal," the woman laughed. "Would you like anything to eat?"

"No thanks. I've eaten, but I promise to let you know if I'm going to be late."

"That's all I ask," she smiled. "Now, you three girls get along. I'm sure you have lots to talk about."

Miyako nodded vigorously, and grabbed Mimi's arm, pulling her up the stairs. Sora couldn't help but laugh at Miyako's display, as she joined the two in Mimi's room…

Author's Notes

Note 1: Omiai or miai is the practice of arranged marriage in Japan. It's not as common now-a-days, due to the younger generation coming up being more into the "marrying for love" thing, but it is still practiced.

* * *

Note 2: The quote, "I am no genius, just passionately curious", isn't my quote. One of the readers of this fic, **Guardianmon**, passed it along to me and I still thank him for it, as it's a very good description of Koushirou's character, imo. He isn't a genius, just very curious about things, and the things he's curious about, he tries his best to learn everything he can about it. In a way, you could compare that description to the fictional character, Sherlock Holmes. He was only smart when it came to things that truly interested him, but when it came to things like astronomy or politics and other such subjects that was common knowledge to those around him, he was very ignorant of them. For some reason, the dub made "Izzy" way smarter than what he originally was, imo, as I never found him to be a "genius" or whatever, and I think it was because of his being a "computer nerd", but even that was exaggerated for the dub. In the original, he's not viewed as a "nerd" or a "geek".

* * *

Note 3: Enka is a traditional style of Japanese music. I've never heard much as far as enka-style music is concerned, unless Hamasaki Ayumi's song, _Will _counts. Oh, and another tidbit of information, in the episode where Palmon evolved to Togemon for the first time, and they were walking in the sewer and Mimi sang, she was singing enka-style music, mentioning how her father liked it.

Ikebana is "the Japanese art of flower arranging". A very traditional skill that is still practiced to this day. It's even taught in school. There's a lot to mastering the art, so to speak, as everything has to be harmonious and balanced. I personally feel that it's a cool skill to have. Ironically, seems Sora was trying to learn more about it because of her mother, who runs a flower shop.

Fic Chapter Changes

I cut out Mimi's pointing out that Keisuke and Mr. Tachikawa shared the same given name.

I had Keisuke use honorifics with his brothers. Originally, he didn't.

I changed the age of Kyuwa's children. Originally, the daughter was "seven or eight" and the son was "about nine or ten". Also added in that he went to the Osaka Medical School and that he works at the Osaka Medical Center.

I changed Masaki from being a Harvard Professor to his being a student there instead. Given his age, I doubt it'd be possible for him to be teaching there. A two-year college, maybe, but not a university, as a PH.D and Masters are usually needed for that, plus a good amount of teaching experience (I think a minimum of at least five years).

I changed Toru from going to "some archeology school" in Arizona to attending the University of Cambridge in England. Also, for his photo, instead of having him standing near the Grand Canyon holding a rock in one hand and a chisel in the other, like I had originally written, I changed it to him standing in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was built in the early 1100s.

I cut out Mimi pointing out to Keisuke that Izumi was Koushirou's family name.

I gave "Anje" a full name. Originally, she was just referred to as just "Anje". Anyway, Ouguchi, if using the right characters, would mean, "Big mouth". Well, that's what I was going for anyway. It probably won't show, but I would write it, 大口 (Ouguchi) アンジェ (Anje). The kanji for big + kanji for mouth = Ouguchi. Anje would be written in Katakana (Anjye).

Added in the "slut" thing, just so I could have an excuse for Koushirou to describe Mimi as "pure and innocent"…like her character bgm theme. "_Sweet Innocent_" and she _does_ have the crest trait of purity, so yeah. lol

Added in Mimi calling Anje, "Anje-baba", which is pretty much saying, "Old woman Anje".

Gave the admissions director a full name.

Added in that Anje only has the job because she's the niece of the university's President. I never did specify that originally, but it was implied that she only had the job because of someone she knew.

Koushirou nearly cursing when Mimi caught up to him was the same as the original, but, for the original, it was more implied as to _which_ curse he was about to use for her. I decided to just leave it to the imagination of the readers this time around. ^^

Mimi was the one to initiate their going out to eat for the original version of this chapter, which I forgot. Mimi teased Koushirou for his stomach growling and then asked if he wanted to get something to eat and then he offered to pay for the entire meal. Changed it so that it was Koushirou doing the asking. I also added in a real place for them to eat at, as opposed to a random pizzeria. This place exists, but as far as I know, there aren't any in Odaiba.

I changed what the two ate. Originally, I had that the two ordered a pizza with extra cheese. That's probably not _too_ common in Japan (extra anything, by the looks of it), but it's probably a choice. Also, since they were originally sharing a pizza, I had Koushirou serving it to Mimi.

I added in more conversation regarding Anje as far as apologizing went. The topic of apologizing wasn't in the original version, and surprised that I'd actually forgotten to include it.

The reward was originally only $5,000. Decided to put up the price and I also added in that extra tidbit of information about how the Doppo guy liked girls with long hair and how they coincidentally were usually rich girls, hence the big reward.

I added in the dessert stuff.

Originally, after the Pinky and the Brain stuff, I had Koushirou mention taking a bus to Toudai. The bus would take longer than the train because of the traffic.

The line where Miyako started and Sora finished after Sué questioned the date thing, I originally had Sora mention the dance, not the spring vacation.

Sué acted in a more stern fashion with Mimi after she returned home. I felt that she was being _too_ overbearing, which is why I dropped it.


	16. 16  Toudai

Hi again everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the original characters for the last chapter. They were really fun to write about, especially Keisuke. I really was interested in a career involving writing of some sort, but due to certain circumstances, decided against it, and no, it didn't have anything to do with my family's being disapproving of it. Anyway, Keisuke's character was meant to be a repressed free thinker. I hope he came across as such. Oh yes, there is a meaning behind the cake Mimi had, but, that won't be brought up again or thought about until a few chapters from now.

Oh, just thought I'd include a bit of information that I didn't earlier. The way the Izumis address one another is usually the typical "anata" (Mrs. Izumi Mr. Izumi). He uses one for her too, like "dear", etc., just don't remember it specifically. I really didn't feel like constantly having them (as well as other parents) referring to one another with pet names…'cept for Mimi's. lol

Let's see, for this chapter, which is shorter compared to the previous one, both go to Tokyo University and run into a couple of familiar faces. Now, is Koushirou going to find the information he seeks here? You all have to read on to see.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 16: Mysterious Misayoshi…

After everything was settled, Mimi finally managed to sit down with Miyako and Sora to explain most everything to them, which included her attack and everything involving Koushirou, minus the hug and the kiss, of course, and about his actually _not _being the biological son of the Izumis. She was hesitant at first when telling the two about Koushirou's adoption, but then realized that at no point had Koushirou actually said _not_ to mention it to anyone, and hoped that it would be okay. Both were surprised to hear such news over Koushirou, but as Sora had pointed out, there really wasn't any reason for him _to _mention it as it never really came up in general conversation and how thankful she was "that Koushirou-kun was around" to defend Mimi.

When the serious discussion was done, Miyako started to grill Mimi on the dinner that she had gone out to with Koushirou. She truly wanted to know what was going on, but Mimi, with a slight blush, insisted that it was nothing, and it was just a friendly gesture on his part, treating her to a meal.

It was now the next morning, everyone preparing for school once again. Taichi didn't know why he was bothering going, as he was technically finished, just like all of the other third years who had already taken, and passed, their high-school entrance exams. Going, for the most part, was just a formality. He had tried calling Sora the previous night to finally ask her what he had been trying to ask for a while, but at the last moment chickened out. He just figured he'd casually speak with her. Her mother explained how she wasn't home. Because of this, Taichi tried Sora's mobile, but didn't get an answer and it went straight to the girl's voice-mail.

Both Sora and Miyako stayed overnight, which was the implied intention from the start. When Taichi had called Sora on her mobile phone, she was so into the conversation that the three of them were having, she didn't even notice that she'd received any calls. Even though he didn't manage to get Sora, it didn't bother him too much, but at the same time, he was upset because he _couldn't_ speak to her. His emotions were terribly mixed.

At the moment, Mrs. Yagami was in the kitchen preparing breakfast for Hikari and Taichi, who were debating over who should get to go to the washroom first to brush their teeth. Mr. Yagami, during this, was seated at the table, smoking a cigarette.

"Oh no, not again," Mrs. Yagami sighed as she prepared the omelet. "Seems they always end up in a debate over who brushes his teeth first. Well, at least they don't fight or anything."

Mr. Yagami laughed a bit. "Seems they would've come up with a better system by now instead of just having Hikari give in and letting Taichi go first."

"Susumo," Mrs. Yagami began, a hand on her hip, "_must_ you smoke every morning?"

He took in a long drag and puffed out before answering. "Yuuko, you know it helps to relieve me of my stress before heading off to work."

"I don't smoke before I start _my_ day," she retorted while plating the two omelets. "What stress could you possibly have this early in the morning?"

He coyly smiled to her. "Hm, for one, listening to Taichi and Hikari go on about who should brush first."

She couldn't help but laugh herself as she poured out glasses of juice for the children. "I'm sure you can come up with something much better than that."

He smirked, his grin very similar to a crafty Taichi's. "How about ever since you stopped letting me have a beer in the morning."

"Nope, try again," she said. "You stick to your evening drinking, don't do it in the morning. It looks bad to go into work with a red face, and we _all_ know that you can't hold your alcohol well. After maybe two or three beers you're drunk. You act like such an idiot too when you are drunk…but a loveable one." She poured her husband a cup of coffee with cream and a lot of sugar. The man seemed to enjoy it best that way. She finished setting everything at the table for their breakfast. "Taichi, Hikari, it's time for breakfast," she called.

The two walked in and took their seats, all dressed and ready for school. "Hey," their father greeted.

"Good morning," the siblings greeted back.

Both thanked their mother for the "omelet meal" and dug in. Hikari ate her breakfast the way she would normally, but Taichi was eating it slowly.

Mr. Yagami put out his cigarette and took a sip of his coffee. "Is something wrong, Taichi? You're not eating."

"You're up sooner than usual too," Mrs. Yagami said in slight concern. "You don't have an early practice or anything." She felt Taichi's forehead. "You're not getting sick, are you?"

"I'm fine," he insisted with a forced smile. "You're just worrying too much."

"Oniichan, did you ever get to talk with Sora-san?"

He shook his head to the girl. "She wasn't home last night when I tried calling, and when I tried her mobile, I got her voice mail. She must've forgotten to turn the ringer back on after school yesterday."

The family continued with their meals, when they heard a knock coming from their front door. "I'll get it," Hikari volunteered. She rose from her seat and answered it. "Hi Daisuke-kun! You're right on time." She let him in.

"Yeah, well, it's not too big a deal to leave a little bit earlier since it's on the way."

"What brings you by, Daisuke-kun?" asked Mrs. Yagami.

"I'm going to walk with Hikari-chan to school today."

"We're going to meet up with both Iori-kun and Takeru-kun when we get there, probably." Hikari slipped on her backpack. "We're trying to think of things to do for our spring vacation besides being stuck inside for the majority of it, especially since Takeru-kun, Daisuke-kun, and I already took our class trip to Kyoto, which was really fun."

"Yeah, now I understand why Miyako liked it so much!"

"I'm sure that Iori-kun will like it too when he gets the chance a couple of years from now."

"Well, Kyoto does have a lot of history and legend behind it. You can learn a lot about our history by going there," Mr. Yagami wisely input.

Daisuke noticed Taichi eating slowly and greeted him. "Hi, Taichi-senpai."

"Hey there, Daisuke. How's your soccer coming along?"

"I'm practicing really hard, and giving it my all!"

"That's good," he responded distantly. Usually, Taichi would jump at the chance to discuss soccer strategy, but wasn't fully into doing so.

Daisuke scratched his head. "Huh?"

"Daisuke-kun, we better go if we don't want to be late."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Bye everyone."

Daisuke and Hikari went back to the genkan at the front door. Daisuke put his shoes back on, while Hikari stepped into hers. The two then left.

"Taichi, if you're not feeling all that well, maybe you should stay home. You're barely halfway through your meal."

"Eh, don't worry about it." He swallowed down the remainder of his breakfast and gulped down his juice.

"Now _that's_ the Taichi I know."

Taichi gave his mother a toothy grin and the "v" for "victory" sign. "Well, I should probably get going too." The boy grabbed his jacket and book bag, and rushed out of the door, wondering why Sora seemed to be so unreachable lately. A part of him was getting the impression that she was purposely avoiding him, while the other, more logical side, felt that that it was ridiculous to even think in such a way.

"I wonder if Taichi is feeling a bit pressured," Mr. Yagami said after the boy had left. "Their school is the only one doing all that extra testing."

"True, but they're only doing normal testing due to the fact that the third years had entrance exams to worry about. They're actually free from tests this week, unlike the rest of the school. I think it's something else."

"Like what?"

"Their school is going to host its first ever social event. A dance of some kind; it's supposed to be a formal one."

"A dance? No one mentioned that to me. When is it?"

"I think either Friday or Saturday. It's another part of the 'experiment'."

"How so?"

"The argument presented to the PTA was that having a dance would motivate the students to work harder if they knew that they're going to get a reward at the end of the school year. What the students don't know, though, is that this testing experiment and the dance thing is only going to be put in place for three years to see how it goes. It's only temporary."

"I guess the students don't know that, though, right?"

"Nope. There's no need to tell them about it since it is temporary."

"But, the students taking the exams now, aren't they being held during normal classes? Usually, classes are canceled for exam taking. Seems it's still much too stressful." The man finished down the rest of his coffee. "I have to get going. I'll see you tonight."

"Okay. See you later."

With that, the man took off, while Mrs. Yagami started doing her usual errands around the home, before heading out herself…  
x x x x x x x  
Over at the Izumi household, sitting at the table…

Koushirou had already left for school. He'd gotten into a slight argument with his parents after he'd returned home the previous night. He was so upset over the fact that he'd argued in the first place (and with them) that he skipped out on breakfast just to avoid having to see them. This was new to the Izumis, as neither of them had ever had any real conflict with the boy before.

Koushirou normally got along with his parents very well, so well that outsiders would comment on how well the three of them got along. It was the "perfect family", most would say. It had the perfect housewife and mother, the perfect working husband, and the perfect, courteous son who never got into trouble and who never caused any.

Mr. and Mrs. Izumi were complimented all the time about how they had the perfect son, and how they wished they had children as considerate and kind as him. They never really had any problems with the boy. He was generally well-behaved and seemed to go out of his way to show his appreciation for them. It was rather unfortunate that they had the falling out in the first place, and that it was actually over Koushirou's secrecy. They had also discovered that Koushirou had lied about where he'd gone on Sunday.

"What are we going to do with him?" asked Mr. Izumi direly, while sipping on some of his tea.

Mrs. Izumi frowned. "I don't know. He's been very secretive lately, and the last time he acted like this, was when he first brought Tento-san home, so I know it's not that since we all know of him and the other Digimon. I hate the fact that he didn't tell us where he'd been yesterday after he came home and now he missed out on breakfast. He's going to get hungry!"

"I think we have more important things to worry about than whether or not he's going to be hungry. I understand that children his age tend to keep things to themselves, but he really didn't have the right to go on about not giving us some kind of an explanation, especially since he's usually home earlier than that. He got home much later than usual. We waited for him to have dinner."

"What upsets me the most is that he's lying to us; he's _never_ lied to us before! He's always been so open and honest." She wiped a few tears away from her face.

"Yeah…"

"I just want to know where he went Sunday. I spoke with Yuuko-san yesterday afternoon. We got on the subject of the children and of that upcoming dance and of all the testing that they're doing. I brought up how Koushirou mentioned studying with Taichi-kun and the others. She then told me that Taichi-kun and Hikari-chan as well as the other children attended a get together and that she hadn't actually _seen_ Koushirou in the longest time." Mrs. Izumi lowered her head and sighed heavily. "Could he be acting this way because of my pregnancy?"

"No, stop thinking like that! It is _not_ the pregnancy. I don't know why you fear that he disapproves of your being pregnant. He grew indignant with both of us. You shouldn't blame your being pregnant for Koushirou's unusual, secretive, grumpy mood lately."

"But everything was fine before we told him last week! He's been acting strangely ever since."

"No he hasn't. You're exaggerating. He's been literally acting strange since about Saturday or Sunday."

"But it's still close to when we told him." The woman grew quiet, silent tears falling. She then muttered, "Maybe I shouldn't _have_ the baby if it'll make him happy again and everything will go back to normal…"

Mr. Izumi looked to his wife in surprise from her statement. She wasn't truly serious, he'd hoped, but _did_ wonder now how Koushirou _would_ react if they suddenly went up to him and told him that they wouldn't be having a new baby.

"_Yoshie_! How could you even _consider_ such a thing? That child is part mine too, and I know you really want this baby as well and as _much_ as I do! Probably even more! You love children! Koushirou is the child of this home and we're the ones caring for him. We make the rules and just because he may not like the idea of becoming an older brother doesn't mean we have to give up our ways for him! It is _not_ supposed to be that way! Whatever we say goes!"

"But…"

"I'm afraid that we'll have to get strict with him. We're going to have to," the man paused slightly, "_punish_ him. His behavior hasn't been acceptable, and that stress isn't good for you _or_ the baby."

"Oh, do we _have_ to? We've never had to apply any kind of punishment before. He's always been so well behaved."

"Yoshie, we don't have much of a choice. He's coming across as rude and disrespectful. I know some parents ignore those kinds of things, but I'm not one of them, and I'm sure you aren't either. I'm going to come home right after work today, if I can, and we'll both tell him that for the rest of the week, that he's to come straight home to help out more around here. We've definitely spoiled him…I guess you could say, even though it's difficult to fully say that since this is more of a recent thing. Maybe since he's older now, he feels he can get away with whatever he wants."

Mrs. Izumi nodded somberly. She knew her husband was right, but still hated the idea of actually _punishing_ Koushirou, but then again, what parent actually did?  
x x x x x x x  
The school day went on like it would usually, and it was now time for all to go home. The strenuous day of testing was over! Mimi noticed something a bit different about her usual group of friends. They were all giving her looks, like they wanted her to elaborate on something. Even Chinatsu seemed more anxious than usual. The look was the _most_ noticeable with Yuuko, though. Mimi could only ignore it, as she had no idea what they could've wanted and frankly didn't feel like asking.

During lunch, Mimi told her friends that she wasn't going to eat with them and headed to the computer lab to join Koushirou. Hardly any work on the project got done. The two just talked and ate...well, Mimi did anyway. As usual, she had prepared a bento for her lunch filled with different treats. Seeing that Koushirou didn't have anything for his, she offered to share some of hers with him. It was the least she could do after he'd treated her to the nice dinner just that past night and he did offer to share his lunch with her just that previous day too. Knowing the girl wouldn't take "no" for an answer, he accepted what she offered. He simply _loved_ Mimi's cooking.

Surprisingly, for Mimi, she really enjoyed sitting in the computer lab and just talking with Koushirou. It was better than hearing Yuuko and Ayame's current cute boy report that she usually had no _real_ interest in or Chinatsu's obsession with volleyball and sports in general, not that that was an actual bother. Mimi knew how serious Chinatsu was when it came to sports, especially volleyball, since she hoped to go pro someday, if fate allowed it.

The girl also enjoyed talking with Koushirou because of what happened on Sunday. Of course it still bothered the two, and both were trying their bests to hide it, but it didn't seem to work effectively. They both seemed to get some of their feelings out on the situation, which involved Mimi to tear up a bit at times. It was a very good way to relieve all of that tension that the both of them had been holding in, Koushirou, especially, who still was beating himself up over it. The talk with Mimi was very helpful for Koushirou, since other than her, he hadn't talked to anyone about what had happened, not even Taichi, who he was semi-avoiding as he was afraid of the soccer player managing to get him to talk about Sunday.

He was still holding back somewhat, but that was something that Mimi and their other friends had noticed about Koushirou for years. It was almost like he didn't want to give away too much about himself. He would usually act as if nothing ever bothered him and would allow himself to get preoccupied with something else, like the computer. The only one immune to a closed up Koushirou was Tentomon, to a certain extent. Either way, talking was still helpful for Mimi. It made her feel better that she had the support needed, even if she still hadn't gotten over all that had happened, but under the circumstance, what person really does?

On her way to the computer lab, she ran into her four admirers. All four of them apologized to her and wanted to "apologize to Izumi" for the trouble they'd "caused yesterday". Mimi went to the lab with them along and they apologized to Koushirou, who accepted it, as it was like Mimi had said earlier, they were just concerned about her and it was known that she had been with him last. Mimi noticed that they were acting differently around the both of them, _especially_ Yuuji and Misao. Those two were acting more intent on getting Mimi's attention than what they would usually, while Seki and Ukyo did nothing. They just told them "bye" and left. The other two stuck around trying to offer to do things for Mimi, but she politely turned them down and shooed them away so that she could talk with Koushirou.

Another thing the two discussed was their plans for that afternoon and the quickest route to Toudai. They were now waiting for the train at Daiba Station. As Koushirou had pointed out after getting back from Odaiba University, it would've been faster for them if going in-land by train than by bus.

"Yes, Sué-bachan, I'm still working on that school project with Koushirou-kun," Mimi told her aunt over her mobile phone. "We're going to the University of Tokyo this time…I know, I know, I should be studying for my tests, but tomorrow is our last day of testing, and I'm taking English and Music tomorrow, two of my easiest subjects…Why do I have to go?...Well, it's like I said before I left this morning, his parents graduated from there….I'm going to be late so don't worry about dinner, I'll pick up something while out….okay, bye."

She put her phone back into her book bag. After what had happened with her aunt yesterday, she didn't want to inadvertently worry her again, so she decided to phone her. At least this way, her aunt wouldn't prepare too much for supper, and wouldn't have to worry about leftovers.

"I never thought I'd be going to different universities while still in junior high," Mimi laughed.

"Yeah…"

Mimi noticed the distant tone in his voice, and how he actually seemed to be staring out into space. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"It doesn't _sound_ like nothing!" she argued back hotly. "You don't _normally_ snap at people when there's nothing wrong!"

"Sorry! _Okay_?"

Mimi knew when to pick her battles, and this was one she didn't even want to touch and decided to just let it go and just get on his case later for the sudden attitude change. After the short wait, the train finally arrived and the two forced their way on. They were lucky enough to find a spot and sat together. He had the window seat, and was preoccupied for the duration of the ride. He had a lot of thoughts on his mind.

Koushirou was just cross since he'd thought about how upset he'd gotten with his parents, but was angrier with himself, still, for upsetting them in the first place. He really believed in the, "Never bite the hand that feeds you", logic. He then thought of how they had kept his adoption a secret, and some of that slight resentment returned, but, at the same time, he hated himself for feeling the resentment. What really bothered him the most was that his mother had mentioned Sunday, a day he'd been trying to get out of his mind ever since the attack happened.

He just had a lot on him currently and just blew up, like he had at Anje at Odaiba University, the main difference being that he didn't say anything too disrespectful to them, he was just rude and argued back. The tension just built up too much and their demanding to know of his whereabouts from Sunday was the final straw. All of this could be attributed to guilt. He had to find a way to release that distress, and his parents were, unfortunately, the victims.

Mimi noticed how quiet the boy was for the entire ride, completely different from how he was yesterday, but regardless of how preoccupied he came across, he was still pretty alert and knew _exactly_ when to make his transfers.

"Here we are," Koushirou said after the nearly forty-minute ride, "Toudai!" He was actually acting as if nothing had been wrong.

"Wow, this place is big too."

"Let's try our bests _not_ to get lost this time."

"Right!"

The two entered the school, determined not to get lost. To help make sure that this wouldn't happen, Koushirou had brought up a map of the school before leaving the computer lab just earlier. He was in search of the library this time around, but he still ended up misreading the map somehow.

They asked a student who was walking by where the library was, and she told them where to go. When they entered the library, they took in the sight as they looked around in amazement. Even Mimi felt that the library was impressive, even though she wasn't much of an avid reader.

"Where do we start looking?" asked Mimi.

"I figured that we can look up the news article on the computers here and also try to find an old school yearbook or annual."

'Yearbook? Why'd he say that in English? Is he showing off for me? Nah...he's probably just practicing using English terms.' the girl concluded. "Hm, *icchou isseki," she muttered. "Like that?"

"Yeah, pretty much. By doing it this way, we can save a trip to the Tokyo Metropolitan Library."

"Good idea, but where do we start on looking for something like a yearbook? Do universities have them? My old school back in New York did, but that wasn't a university."

"I guess the term you're more familiar with is *Sotsugyou Arubamu (Graduation Album) and yes, Toudai has them."

"Oh, I see."

"I'm going to go look for the article."

"Okay, but that still doesn't answer my question. Where would I find something as rare as an old Tokyo University yearbook?"

"Well…I don't know, but I'm going to look for the article."

"I'll come along with you. I'm curious about the article too."

The two made their way up to the front desk, where a short, plump, old pepper-haired woman sat. She had a very nice smile. Koushirou explained the situation to her about his needing to use the microfilm projector to look up an old news article. Luckily for them, just as Koushirou had predicted, they did have ones dating as far back as 1990 and even further back than that.

When they asked about the yearbooks, the librarian was surprised that they wanted something like that. She explained how she didn't have access to the old yearbooks and how only those in the Editing Committee had that type of access.

"Let's go through these," Koushirou said, his arms filled with microfilm reels. "I'm sure we're bound to find the article."

The two took a seat in front of two microfilm projectors. Mimi was going to look through one set, while Koushirou look through the other. "Hey wait! Didn't Mitsuishi-san say that it happened in April of 1990?"

"Yeah, why?" he asked while loading up the film.

"Well…um…couldn't we just narrow down your search by just looking up articles from April of 1990? It'd be a _lot_ quicker."

"I was thinking about doing that too, but since we don't have any information aside from that, like the name of the article, this is all we have to go by. Besides," he pointed to all of the reels, "these _are_ all of the news articles that were put out for the month of April. Too bad Mitsuishi-san didn't give us a specific date."

"Y-yeah, that's quite a bit."

"We're going to be here for a while," Koushirou sighed as he started reading through the first reel he loaded.

Those were words Mimi _definitely_ didn't want to hear. She just knew that scanning through news articles would bore her silly. She also had never used a microfilm projector before, but did seem to get it by watching Koushirou load the one he was on. She loaded up one reel and read through it, and just like she'd anticipated, she was instantly bored, even though she was highly curious. She decided to leave Koushirou to it. He had a better eye for that type of thing.

While Koushirou continued looking through the reels, Mimi went back to the librarian to ask if anyone had shown up that could get access to the yearbooks. She figured it would be a lot easier to find someone's photo, especially since she had a name, than looking for an article. The librarian shook her head. Before Mimi could respond, someone walked up holding a large stack of books. Mimi couldn't even see the person due to the amount of books he was carrying.

"Did someone say that they needed to get to the old school yearbooks, Tosho-san?" the voice from behind the stack asked.

"Yes, this girl and her friend need it for something that they're working on."

After the boy set the books down on the librarian's desk and wiped his brow, he got a better look at the girl and gave her a smile. "Mimi-chan!"

"Shuu-san?"

It was the 22-year-old Kido brother, Shuu. Jou's older brother who took up Japanese Folklore and Mythology and Humanities instead of medical sciences to become a doctor, like his older, 25-year-old brother, Shin.

*Mimi didn't know Shuu very well, not like she had Shin. For one, when she first met Shin, who was about to start interning, it was when they all first returned from the Digital World and Vamdemon (Myotismon) was in search of the 8th Child and holding many people captive at Tokyo Big Sight. Shuu wasn't around during that time because he was away on a trip and even after the danger had passed and there was pretty much a three-year peacetime in the Digital World – other than the incident with Diablomon – and before Daisuke, Miyako, and Iori were chosen, Shuu still stayed away from home a lot compared to Shin. Shuu was the Kido brother who definitely stood out as the somewhat rebellious one.

Now-a-days, it was rare seeing him at all, just like Shin, who had moved to Africa and was apart of Doctors Without Borders, as he felt it was his calling. Shuu was still a student of Toudai and was still studying and traveling a lot on special assignments for his film projects, like the time Miyako had met him while on her class trip to Kyoto a couple of years earlier while he was still a second-year student.

"What are you doing here?"

"Koushirou-kun and I are working on a project, and I'm trying to find a yearbook. Are you a part of the Editing Committee?"

"Seems I would be with all the traveling I do," he laughed, "but, unfortunately, I'm not."

"Aww…"

"But Takenouchi-san could probably help. He's the sponsor for the Editing Committee."

"That would be great! Can we go see him?"

"Sure, just let me drop these off first."

"Wow, you checked out a lot of books this time, Shuu-kun," the old woman responded, as she checked them back in.

"Well, yeah, I was just brushing up on the different legends and myths in other parts of Japan and also legends and folklore from the Western Hemisphere and how I'd love to do some documentaries on some of them!"

"You mean like in America?"

He nodded. "Some of the legends told in North America, as well as Central America, and South America are very interesting. Folklore from England is even more interesting. I should look more into all of those places someday to go to the source of where some of these stories originated from."

He helped Mrs. Tosho put the books away. Once done, he and Mimi headed off to see Professor Takenouchi. "Hey, how's Jou doing? I haven't talked to him in a while."

"I really haven't talked to him much either since he's always studying, but he does find time to unwind every once in a while."

"Jou is so much like Shin-niisan," the boy laughed. "When we were kids, he was _always_ studying. He went to juku (cram school) back in elementary school too, just like Jou did. He was really serious on becoming a doctor, like dad wanted. I was too, but I didn't take the extra classes like dad wanted, and thanks to mom, I got out of going to juku. I was never as interested in school like those two."

"Well, I did see Jou-senpai a few nights ago. We all went out for karaoke."

"Well, what do you know! I'm surprised Jou even went along with the way he studies."

"I was a little surprised too, but since his school was already in spring vacation, I guess that's why. He's a pretty good singer and he had a lot of fun."

It didn't take them long, but they finally arrived at Takenouchi's office. They overheard him speaking with someone else, and decided to wait, so as not to interrupt.

"Come on, Haruhiko-kun," they heard a man say. "You should relax some."

"No, I can't go with you and the guys on the trip," Professor Takenouchi said. It sounded as if he were sorting through papers.

"But you and Kido-kun were going on another one of your trips to do some research, right? You're going to Nara this time, right? Instead of going to Nara, why not come with us to England? We're going to have the whole week free and we're going to leave Friday to head there to get the vacation started early."

"You've been trying to get me to join you guys for a while, but the answer is still, 'no'. Nara is one thing, at least I'm still in Japan and close to home, but heading to England is another. If I went to England, I wouldn't be able to see my daughter's graduation ceremony from Odaiba Junior High. That's more important to me right now. I rarely see her as it is due to my work and my constant traveling for book research. I could never forgive myself for taking a trip to England that wasn't work related unless I brought my daughter along."

"We all had a great itinerary planned too, but you're going to be sorry that you're missing out," the man laughed heartily.

"Well then," Mr. Takenouchi smirked, "I'll be sorry."

A heavyset man walked out of the office, who was another teacher of the school, who greeted the two, who politely greeted him back. After he'd gone, both walked in to see Mr. Takenouchi looking over some notes. "Excuse me, kyouju," Shuu knocked.

The middle-aged man with the tired eyes looked up and smiled. "Kido-kun, nice to see you. Who's that beside you? Mimi-chan?"

"Hi there, Takemouchi-san."

The man stood. "Glad to see you. What brings you by?"

Takenouchi Haruhiko, Sora's father, was a professor of anthropology at Tokyo University, but showed a strong interest in Japanese Folklore and Mythology. Due to his lectures, Shuu transferred over to study humanities as he enjoyed them, even if his father _did_ disapprove of his doing so, since he had wanted all three of his sons to get into the medical profession, as it was a Kido family tradition dating back to the Edo era. So far, two of the three were still pursuing careers in the medical field. Shuu was one of Takenouchi's best students, which was pretty much why he allowed Shuu to accompany him whenever he went on trips for information gathering, and allowed him to make film documentaries of their trips.

"I need a yearbook from 1985. Our history class is working on projects dealing with our families' histories, and we have to get information on them, so Koushirou-kun and I are here because of his parents. They graduated in 1985."

"I don't mind helping. So, the Izumis went to school here? I never knew that."

"The Izumis sure are young looking to have graduated from here in 1985," Shuu said.

Mimi thought for a moment, and wondered if they were younger than Koushirou's biological parents.

"Mimi-chan, how is Sora and the Digimon doing? I haven't talked to her in a long while and she hasn't mentioned Piyomon much either. We mostly talk by e-mail since I travel so much."

"Palmon and the others should be doing okay now. We'll probably see them more once our vacations start, though. As for Sora-san, she's doing great too! I see and talk to her all the time! She's looking forward to her graduation ceremony and is also happy that she passed the entrance exam for Odaiba High School. I'm sure I'll be just as excited when the time comes for me to graduate too!"

"That's good to know. I'm also looking forward to Sora's graduation. I've already put in the time to take off to see her ceremony since I am planning on taking a trip to Nara soon. Hm, you know, I wouldn't mind seeing your Digimon again. I still have questions regarding them." He paused for a moment, and rubbed his chin. "Oh yeah, how was Sora's party? Did that go okay? I hope my friend let you all enjoy yourselves."

"Um, y-yeah, sure was fun," Mimi managed to get out, though awkwardly. She didn't feel like telling the man that she hadn't even been there.

"Oh yeah, you wanted the yearbooks…" He went back to his desk, opened up one of the drawers, and pulled out a key. He handed it to Shuu. "Here you go. They're in the back room of the library."

Mimi found it odd how the actual librarian didn't have a key to the room. After thanking him, Shuu and Mimi made their way _back_ to the library. When they got there, Mimi noticed that Koushirou was still searching through reels. Once reaching the room, Shuu opened the door and entered. The room had a slight muskiness to it, and within moments, Shuu found boxes labeled "Graduation Albums" and the decade each box contained. Shuu picked up the heavy box labeled, "Graduation Album (1980 ~ 1989)" and walked to one of the vacant tables. Luckily, most of the students were out for break, but there were still some around for whatever the reason. Shuu offered to help her look through them, but she insisted that she'd be fine, so he left to talk with Mr. Takenouchi about the upcoming trip.

Mimi looked through all of the books from 1980 – 1985. She was purposely doing so to keep from having to go through news articles. While looking through the club circles the school offered, she saw Mr. Fukami, who seemed to participate in many clubs and seemed to be very well rounded. He was on the soccer team, and looked to play goalie, was in the Computer Club, Science Club, and also a Math Club. How he managed to participate in all of those _and_ study was beyond her. It seemed to be an impossible feat.

She studied the pictures of Mr. Fukami, and noticed how handsome he was. He had dark brown hair, about average in height, plain, dark eyes, and probably average in weight. He also had a friendly smile, which was his best attribute, in her opinion. She tried to see what of him reminded her of Koushirou. So far, Koushirou's current hair length and his eyes reminded her of Mr. Fukami. He and Koushirou also seemed to be about the same height. The main clincher, though, was that both were apart of a Computer Club. Personality wise, there was definitely no way of knowing if both shared that trait, but given how Mr. Fukami came across, she just couldn't see it.

When Mimi got up to 1985, she saw that there were two top students of that graduating class listed, Fukami Satoru and Misayoshi Miki. There was a photo of Mr. Fukami but there was no photo available for Miss Misayoshi. It was pretty odd. There hadn't been one single photo of her for either of the yearbooks. No clubs or anything. 'I wonder if she hated taking photos,' she thought jokingly.

With that, she got up and decided to show Koushirou what she had found. She'd actually had fun looking through the books and seeing how strangely people dressed back then.

When she got over to where he was, she saw that he had found the article he was looking for. He had actually managed to get a copy of it, but how one can get copies from microfilm was over her head. He didn't read the article fully and decided that he'd go through it later as he didn't want to depress himself while around Mimi. He was pleased with Mimi's work and thanked her. They got all of the information needed from the yearbook, which included copies of the photos his father appeared in. Once done, Koushirou returned the microfilm to the librarian and carried the box of yearbooks back into the room it came from. They then gave the key back to Mr. Takenouchi, who talked with Koushirou for a while, since he hadn't seen him in such a while.

After the goodbyes and thank yous to Shuu and Mr. Takenouchi, the two left, glad that everything had gone smoothly. Koushirou offered to treat Mimi to dinner again, and since the last one was so nice, she took him up on his offer. Koushirou was a bit more spontaneous this time and suggested that they head to Decks Tokyo Beach before going home and going to one of the eateries in Daiba Little Hong Kong for Chinese cuisine. For some reason, Koushirou just wanted to do nice things for Mimi…he couldn't explain it.

After their dinner, the two headed home. The last place on their list was Odaiba Elementary. The closest of all of the places they had to go. Both had agreed to go after school as soon as possible, and then start working on getting something together.  
x x x x x x x  
Mimi had just gotten off the phone with Sora, as she informed her of how things had gone smoothly this time around. She was now soaking in the tub, thinking about how nice Koushirou had been to her lately and how grateful she was that the research part for this project was nearly over.

"This is so nice and relaxing." She sank down deeper into the tub. 'I'm glad we're almost done with all of this. I hope he appreciates what I'm doing for him!' She sighed. 'I wonder why he offered to treat me to dinner again. It's kind of strange, thinking about it…'

After her bath, she dried off, combed her hair, and headed to bed. She just couldn't wait for the week to end…

Author's Notes

Note 1: The phrase Mimi used there, can mean, "Killing two birds with one stone." In other words, it's going to be a very easy task.  
x x x x  
Note 2: Yes everyone, Tokyo University does have yearbooks or "graduation albums". I was unsure of this when I originally wrote this and did say that it did have yearbooks, but seeing as how I have the resources now to look these types of things up, I am now certain that Toudai issues out yearbooks.  
x x x x  
Note 3: Yes, everything mentioned about the Kidos was true. Shuu was away during the fight against VenomVamdemon when WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon first appeared and whatever. He was away on a class trip I think. Ironically, according to the Original Story drama, Shuu wasn't around when Greymon and the giant Parrotmon fought in Hikarigaoka either. He was "staying at a friend's house" or something along the lines of that. I think it's supposed to be an on-running gag over how Shuu seems to always miss stuff like that. As for the conflict, that's made up just for the heck of it since I got the impression, through Jou, that their father wanted all of his sons to become doctors. Also in the same drama, Jou mentioned to Shin that Shuu had told him about his planning to switch his major from medicine to humanities, but he hadn't shared that with their parents yet.

Now Shin had conflict with their father…or it was implied that he would have a little since he wanted to work in Africa.

It's also true that the Kido family has a life-long tradition of doctors in their family dating back to Edo Jidai (Edo Era). The Edo Era began in 1603.

Oh yeah, adding on for Shuu, I found out that he was interested in film directing, which makes sense getting right down to it. He _was _making a film when he met up with Miyako in the Kyoto episode. I didn't know that earlier, but didn't want to change what I'd already had for him.

Fic Chapter Changes

I cut out everything implying that Mr. Yagami was a drunk and just changed it to how he's the type who can get drunk easily. In the first Digimon Adventure movie (the one that took place in Hikarigaoka), which I'm pretty sure they cut out for the US version, there was a scene which dealt with a seven-year-old (round about) Taichi and a four-year-old Hikari. When their father came home and was trying to get into Taichi's room, he was drunk then. Also, another bit of information. As some may have noticed, for that movie, Hikari rarely spoke for it. I think she was a late talker, and that was what her whistle was for.

I cut out a little humorous type situation, where random music started to play after Hikari opened the front door. Originally, I had that everyone was confused over where the music was coming from, and how Daisuke was really into it. The song was _Adventure Heart~Daisuke no Theme~._ It's one of the character background themes I just happened to really like. I like both versions of it, actually.

I dropped all of the implications that Daisuke was the type to not be on time for anything. Thinking about it and looking back on the series, I don't think that was ever the case. Given that he was a serious soccer player, which would include early-morning practices at times (even during school vacations), I couldn't see him being late. I also don't recall one single instance where he's been late for school or anything like that. Late to join the others to go to the Digital World sure (you know, like if he was held back for something), but not for school.

I dropped out Mr. Yagami going on about how educational Nara was as well, and how he, as a child, for his school trip, had to go there.

I cut out the discussion they had over whether or not Taichi should be allowed to stay home from school. His mother was insistent on it, while his father reminded them of Taichi's test taking. I cut out long ago that the third years had to take the tests too and just have that only the first and second year students had to participate in the "experimental testing".

I didn't have either Koushirou or Mimi eating lunch originally. When originally writing this, I'd forgotten to write in their having some kind of a lunch in general.

Originally, I had Mimi speaking with her uncle over the phone as opposed to her aunt. Makes more sense to have her aunt on the phone given the time of the day. Her uncle probably wouldn't have been home that early, unless on vacation.

The librarian's name is borrowed from another fic of mine. In my fic, Digidreams Do Come True!, I had the librarian at Jou's school named "Ms. Tosho"…so yeah, just like with Malissa's character, and Iori's friend, Eiji, she's borrowed.

Originally, I had Shuu address Mr. Takenouchi as "Takenouchi-hakase" but changed it to "kyoju" like he does for the original version of the show.

I changed a couple of things about Fukami. I added in the Math Club (replaced Debate Club) and dropped that he was apart of a fraternity (replaced with Science Club).


	17. 17 The Jealous Hackers

Hi again everyone. Once again, I had fun writing all this for you all. Also, as you can see, I'm purposely keeping Koushirou's mother a mystery to him.

Now, for this chapter, it takes place in school again, which means the brief reappearance of Mimi's friends. The boys didn't do much for this chapter, but Taichi, Sora, Yamato, and Miyako are in it. Even though this is a school chapter, it's actually pretty short and aside from changes, I don't think it'll have any notes for it.

Now, as the title implies, the "hackers" of the group are going to become a _little _bit jealous and concerned and Mimi and Koushirou also end up having a slight spat. Well, I wouldn't be me if I didn't toss in _some _conflict, eh?

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 17: The Jealous Hackers…

March 17, 2004, Mimi was definitely in better spirits as she headed towards her school. This was the last day that she and Koushirou would have to travel anyplace. She didn't dislike working with her friend, she just wanted to do something more fun, like spending time together without anything school related being involved…like their dinners, which had been very enjoyable.

On her way to school, she noticed Taichi a few paces ahead of her, who was walking pretty slowly. That was unheard of for a person like Taichi. He was usually pretty cheerful, especially knowing that he was nearly done with Odaiba Junior High and was going to play soccer for his high school.

"Taichi-san!"

Hearing his name, he turned around. "Oh, Mimi-chan, hey. What's going on?"

He waited for her to catch up to him. Once the shorter girl caught up, they started to walk briskly together. "Nothing much. What's wrong?"

He smiled. "What makes you think that something's wrong?"

"Because that smile of yours is fake."

'Worked on my parents,' he thought, surprised Mimi saw through it. "Do you know what's going on with Sora?"

"Going on with her? What do you mean?"

"Well, lately, seems like she's been really busy. It almost feels like she's avoiding me."

"Taichi-san," the girl laughed, "that's just silly! She's not avoiding you. Why would you think that?"

"I thought it was a little dumb too, but it just seems that she's away or busy when I want to catch up with her or talk to her outside of school. I even tried to call her at home a couple of nights ago through both her house phone and her mobile. I got the voice mail with her mobile and her mother told me she was out when I called the house phone."

"Hm, two nights ago?" He nodded. "She stayed over my place that night."

"Oh, I guess her mother just forgot to say so…" he muttered. 'Hmph, it's like that time when I got her those hairpins for her birthday. She was avoiding me then because she was mad at me…but it's like Mimi said, she's probably not…'

"I don't think she's avoiding you. Just like everyone else, she's just really busy because you third years are graduating and the first years are coming in. I'm sure she wasn't purposely ignoring you, and, there _is_ the dance coming up for you all. She's getting ready for that too, according to Miyako-chan."

"Y-yeah…dance…" he murmured.

"Why do I have this feeling that there's more you're curious about?"

"Probably because there is." He faced Mimi. "Do you know if Sora has a partner for the dance yet?"

"She's never talked about it with me. I don't know if she does or not. I'm going to say no, though, since she hasn't mentioned anything about it to me yet."

"Good, I hope I'm not too late! I'm finally going to get the courage to do it!" The boy posed like a super hero, and spoke in a heroic manner. "I _am_ the crest bearer of courage, you know."

Mimi laughed at him. He flashed the "v" for "victory", and rushed off. Mimi continued her walk. She ran into her other friends from class and from her club. She managed to bump into Sora when changing into her school shoes, as she arrived at the same time as she did.

"Hey, Sora-san!"

"Mimi-chan, good morning! How are you?"

"I'm doing fine. I'm just glad that this project that Koushirou and I are working on is almost finished. Today should be our last day having to go anyplace."

"That's good. After that, you all can go back to your normal schedule."

"That's going to be a bit difficult with these unusual tests we're forced to take. Usually with exams, like for our mid-terms and finals, we don't have regular school days, we have to bring our own lunches, and extra activities are fully canceled. It's also strange that only the first and second years are doing all of this testing."

"I can't help but wonder why, but oh well."

"I hope I did okay on them. I probably didn't study as much as I _should_ have, but the results will be put up at the end of the week for all to see," Mimi yawned. "Oh, Sora-san, are you going to the dance this Saturday?"

"I was planning on it, especially since my mother and I did shop for a nice dress for the occasion, but I don't have a partner yet."

"No one's asked you along?"

"A few have…I just haven't given either of them my answer yet. It wouldn't surprise me if most have already found others to go with."

"Why haven't you answered them?"

Sora blushed slightly. "B-because the person I actually wouldn't mind being my partner hasn't asked me yet."

"Who do you _want_ to ask you?"

"W-well, a fr-friend. I would feel more comfortable going to something like that with a close male friend than some of these other boys at our school."

"You mean friends like…Yamato-san or Taichi-san?"

"Ex-exactly! Someone like those two!"

Even though Sora wasn't being specific, Mimi had an idea as to which boy she truly had in mind. The two headed to the girls' restroom to freshen up, some girls heading out of it.

"So, how are things going with you and Koushirou-kun?" asked Sora while looking herself over in the mirror.

Mimi took out her brush, and started to brush her long hair. "What do you mean? It's like I said earlier, I'm just glad that this project is almost over."

"But you called me last night and mentioned how he was acting a bit like a gentleman by offering to treat you out to a meal again. He must spend his money wisely if he's able to keep treating you like that."

"Oh, that?" Mimi leaned her back against the wall. "Well, I'm just curious as to _why_ he's doing it, but a part of me doesn't really want to know the answer."

Sora started to mess with her short, shoulder-lengthened hair. "Why not?"

"I don't know. I'm almost afraid that he'll give a business-like answer."

"What does that mean?" Mimi shrugged. "Well, maybe it's not that." Sora clipped two hair pins into her hair. "Maybe he _is_ doing this just to be nice."

"But why?"

"The only way to get that information is to actually ask him yourself. It _is_ a bit strange, especially given that it was so sudden. You don't think it's because of…what happened…do you?"

"I don't think so, because he had planned on treating me anyway if we missed your party. He just made up for it by taking me out Monday instead. Everything past that was unusual."

After Sora finished with her hair, the two left the restroom and headed down the busy hallway. "Sorry, Mimi-chan, I don't know what to tell you." Sora had a theory, but knew that Mimi would feverishly deny it…the possibility of Koushirou growing romantically interested in her, and hinting around at it in his own way.

"Maybe…he's growing up," Sora began, as she felt that her excuse was incredibly lame, "or maybe he _is_ acting this way because of what happened Sunday!"

Mimi sighed, unable to respond.

"Koushirou-kun has always been a little complex; even when we were children he was. It's probably best if we don't bother trying to figure him out, since he _is_ such a walking mystery and hasn't volunteered that information already. When the time comes for him to share more about himself with any of us, he will. It's like I mentioned a good while ago, he has opened up over the years, but he still seems to keep some things to himself."

"You're probably right."

"Don't worry about it." Sora glanced up at the hall clock. "Oh, didn't realize how late it was. It's almost time for homeroom."

"Ah, you're right! I'll see you later. I hope you manage to get asked soon."

"Bye, Mimi-chan, thanks."

She hurried along to homeroom and greeted everyone she came in contact with, which was normal for her, and this included Koushirou. Before taking her seat, she waved to him and said "hi", but he didn't say anything to her nor did he greet her back, and turned his attention towards the window. She ignored it, though, as their dull homeroom teacher entered the room.

The day continued on like it would usually, only Mimi decided to have lunch with her other group of friends as opposed to spending it in the computer lab with Koushirou. She was picking up on some very bad vibes coming from him, and just felt it was best to just leave him alone. She was planning on talking with him eventually after lunch since she didn't get the chance to during cleaning time, once again, having to be done in the morning because of important officials visiting.

While with her friends, Mimi saw Miyako who ran over to sit with them, instead of spending it with her usual group of classmates and friends. She said "hi" to Mimi quickly, and asked to speak with Yuuko about something. Curious, Yuuko got up and the two spoke in hushed voices. Mimi ignored that too, as did Ayame, Chinatsu, Seki, Yuuji, Misao, and Ukyo. The conversation was obviously a private one.

Yuuko had called Miyako the previous night, asking if she knew of the secret "Mi-chan" was keeping. Miyako got the wrong idea and admitted that she had, thinking that the older girl was referring to what had happened on Sunday. Glad that Miyako knew, Yuuko started blabbing about the kiss, thinking _that_ was the secret. Miyako then informed Yuuko, her mind trying to fathom what was told to her, that that wasn't the secret she was referring to.

The two stopped talking amongst themselves, and rejoined the others. After a while, Mimi got up and left. She decided to go meet up with Koushirou in the computer lab since the break was almost over anyway.

A short while after Mimi left, Yuuko and Miyako did the same. They were curious as to what Mimi had planned for Koushirou this particular day. Miyako had informed Yuuko of how Koushirou had treated Mimi to dinner, almost like a date, so the two were slowly putting two and two together, even if they _were_ partially wrong.

While walking down the hall, they spotted Mimi. She was definitely headed towards the student computer lab. Miyako knew the place well enough, being a key member of the club. During the walk, the two girls saw Mimi stop right outside of the door, but someone had walked up to her. Yuuko's eyes lit up.

x x x x

"It's Ishida-senpai of the Teen-Age Wolves!" she nearly squealed. "I wish I knew him personally like you and Mi-chan!"

Miyako shushed the older girl.

"I'm sorry," she hissed back, continuing to spy from around the corner.

"What's there to really know, though? It's just Yamato-san…"

x x x x

"Hey there, Yamato-san."

"Yo."

x x x x

In the computer lab, Koushirou was sitting at one of the computers, doing pretty much nothing. He passed on eating again, as he, uncharacteristically, didn't have much of an appetite. He was also curious as to where Mimi was since he had to give her the news of how he was technically being punished. He was really surprised after he'd returned home, having made the decision of apologizing, how his parents insisted that he hear them out before saying anything, and went on about how he was going to be punished for his blowing up at them earlier and how his father wanted to try some "new style". He knew not to disobey them any more than he already had, and just accepted it, even if a part of him was completely against it.

Part of him felt that it was unfair that they were punishing him for keeping secrets when they did so themselves. His secrets, in his mind, weren't as important or as significant as the _one_ they were keeping from him. The other part of him felt that he _did_ deserve the punishment, but at the same time, he still wished that they could be more open with him about his adoption.

He didn't grow angry this time when they talked about punishing him, but he still hated the timing of when they did decide to enforce one.

Both of his parents were a bit surprised over how calmly he'd accepted the news. He was much more rational than when they had questioned his where-a-bouts earlier, which had caused the boy to blow up at them in the first place. As a matter of fact, when they asked Koushirou about where he'd been once again, he refused to in a cool, calm, and collected manner and kept his temper. That was the main reason as to why they went through with the punishment, because he had, once again, refused to tell them.

At this point in time, Koushirou wasn't sure if he wanted to go to Odaiba Elementary or not. He _did_ promise to go straight home since that was part of the "experimental punishment" (as his father had called it), as well as helping his mother out with work around the home, but his curiosity was so strong…he was really interested in learning more about his biological mother.

He knew so much about his biological father that he could probably write a short biography on him, whereas for his mother, he would be lucky if he were able to write out a paragraph. All he knew of her was that she grew up without a family, that he, apparently, resembled her a lot because of his hair, that she wore glasses, and that she loved children.

The boy, who had been procrastinating, finally started to read through the article over the deaths of his parents, as the lunch break was about to end soon.

"Tragic Crash Takes the Lives of Odaiba Resident Teachers…" he started.

He sighed and set the article down again. He still couldn't bring himself to read it. No matter how curious he was, he just couldn't read beyond the title of the article. When looking for it, the main thing that he skimmed for were their names. He saw that their names were in the first line and figured that that was the article he was looking for.

He was about to try reading it again, when he heard voices coming from outside the computer lab door…

'Mimi-san…and…Yamato-san?'

x x x x

"I finally caught up with you. I've been looking around for you, and had some free time. I just came from the lunch room, and your friends said you were probably headed here."

"Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. I'm fine."

"That's good, one crisis is enough," the girl muttered darkly as she thought back to Sunday.

"Crisis? What crisis?"

"Well, it's not really a crisis, just a personal problem that's still being dealt with, so don't worry about it," she assured him. "So, why were you looking for me?"

"Well, I was just wondering…"

x x x x

"Doesn't he have the most _beautiful_ eyes and the _handsomest _face…"

'Ken-kun is cuter,' thought Miyako.

x x x x

"…if you were doing anything on Saturday night."

"_This_ Saturday?"

"Yeah. I was wondering if you'd like to go to that dance thing."

x x x x

Koushirou got a somewhat concerned look on his face. 'The dance? Is he asking her to that dance?'

x x x x

"Yamato-san is asking her to the _dance_?"

"Lucky!" Yuuko cried, tears streaming down her face.

x x x x

Mimi started to jump up and down in place excitedly. "I really would like to go just to see how it turns out. I was even going through a fashion magazine a few nights ago planning to accessorize for mine in advanced!"

x x x x

'She would actually _want_ to go to something like that?' He smacked his head in stupidity. 'Of course she would. Mimi-san is outgoing and social; of course she'd want to go to something like that…especially since it was her idea to begin with…'

x x x x

"If she accepts his invite, what will Izumi-senpai think?"

"Do you think we were wrong about the two secretly dating?"

"I think so," Miyako nodded slowly. She sighed out in relief. 'Thank goodness…'

x x x x

"Wait, I can't go to the dance."

x x x x

"Sounds good to me," muttered Koushirou.

x x x x

"Ooo, so they really _are_ a secret couple!"

"It can't be. How could they keep something like that secret?" the girl frowned. 'How could Izumi-senpai keep that away from me? How could Mimi-sama take him away like that? I thought she was my friend…'

"You can't? How come?"

"Well, I'm not a third year. The dance is for third-year graduates only."

x x x x

Koushirou sighed out in relief after hearing that.

x x x x

"I know, but you'll be able to attend it if you can go along with a third year as his partner."

"Who would ask me?" She looked around, as if expecting someone to show up behind Yamato. "Do you know someone?"

Yamato nearly dropped from the girl's response.

"What?" Mimi asked in confusion.

x x x x

Both Yuuko and Miyako sweat dropped, and asked, "She's kidding, right?"

x x x x

'She isn't interested in him?' Koushirou thought in surprise. He then sarcastically muttered aloud, "I thought _all_ girls were. They're just as annoying as those idiots in the 'I love Mimi-chan' club…"

x x x x

"Eh…Mimi, I was wondering if _you_ could come with _me_ as _my_ partner for the dance."

"Wow! Really?" He nodded. "I would _love_ to go! I can't wait to see how it turns out! Wait, I thought you were going to play for it."

"Only if I couldn't find someone to go with me…and the other guys have partners for the dance…"

"But why ask me?"

x x x x

'Yeah, _why_ her? There are a _tons_ of girls at this school who would jump at the chance to join him for something like that!'

x x x x

"Oh, Yamato-san, there are lots of girls in this school who would _love_ to go with you to something like that," Mimi smiled to him.

x x x x

"I would, I would! Pick me, Ishida-senpai!" Yuuko nearly shouted out.

"Shuuuuuush!"

"What are you two doing?" a voice from behind the duo asked, which caused both to nearly scream from being startled so.

They turned to see two girls in similar uniforms looking displeased.

"Erm, hi there, Ayame-san, Chinatsu-san," Miyako greeted nervously.

"What are you two doing?" Chinatsu asked again.

"Yeah, how come you left so soon? We waited around for you to come back."

"Shh, be quiet," instructed Yuuko urgently.

Chinatsu shook her head in disgust as she looked around the corner. "Ugh! I can't believe it! You two are _spying_ on Mimi-chan?"

"You two are just as bad as Seki-kun, Yuuji-kun, and the rest put together"

"You guys, just be quiet. Miya-chan and I were curious about something."

The other two didn't say anything, and just quieted down, figuring that it had to have been something important to resort to spying in the first place.

x x x x

"Yeah, you're right, but most of those girls treat me as 'Yamato-kun of the Teen-Age Wolves'. Don't you remember the way Daisuke's sister used to act around me? Jun was almost impossible! I was _so_ glad when she got over me. It made it easier to just _talk_ to her," he put a finger to his chin as he thought back, "even though, she wasn't that bad during our first meeting. Takeru and I met her that time. Either way, girls like that don't treat me as 'Ishida Yamato' the person, like you or Miyako-chan, or even her older sister, Chizuru-san does. I _would_ have asked Sora, but someone already asked her," he explained. 'She was off-limits from the beginning…'

x x x x

"How did you two become such good friends for him to call you 'Miyako-chan'?" Yuuko literally cried.

"That's what _I _would like to know," Ayame chimed in.

"Both you and Mimi-chan are actually pretty lucky," Chinatsu nodded. "You're date material for a celebrity. How _did_ you get to know him?"

"She met him while at summer camp a few years ago. They were part of the same group. I met both Yamato-san and Mimi-sama through his younger brother," the girl explained quickly.

x x x x

"Oh, so you just wanted a friend to go along with you?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," he stated bluntly.

x x x x

'She's probably going to go. I couldn't see her turning something like _that_ down.'

For some reason, this bothered the boy some. Even though the two were just friends, the idea of Mimi going out with every local teenage girl's fantasy dream guy just bugged him, but what bugged him most was the fact that he felt bugged in the first place. Yamato was his friend too, and a nice overall guy…

x x x x

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that. I _would_ really like to go…"

"From your tone, you don't sound too convinced that you can make it."

"It's just a little short notice. I don't even have anything to wear and I'm not sure if there's anything else that I needed to do."

"Well, if you can't go, I could try asking someone else, like Chizuru-san, but it wouldn't surprise me if she already had someone to go along with her," he told her almost disappointingly.

x x x x

"She doesn't," murmured Miyako aloud.

x x x x

"Well, you never know, but I don't mind going with you. I'm glad that you see me as that close of a friend to even consider asking me."

"I've known you for almost five years, and in a way, feels like it's been even longer than that, so why not, right?"

Mimi laughed. "Okay, I'll go!"

x x x x

"So much for _our_ theory," Miyako told the other three resolutely, even though in her mind, she was cheering.

"What theory?" asked Chinatsu.

"Mi-chan and Koushirou-kun dating in secret!"

The girls walked off to leave Mimi and Yamato alone to discuss.

"You two would actually think that Mimi-chan would date someone without telling _us_ at least?"

"I'm surprised you would think that at all," Chinatsu scolded.

"Well, Yuuko-san told me that Mimi-sama kissed Izumi-senpai!"

"And Miya-chan told _me_ that Koushirou-kun had been taking Mi-chan out to dinner! _His_ treat!"

"Wait, you didn't know about the kiss?" Ayame asked Miyako.

She shook her head. "I thought Yuuko-san was talking about something else."

"What?" Chinatsu asked.

"Do you three know why she missed the party on Sunday?"

"We just figured that whatever it was she had to do with Izumi-kun took longer than expected."

Ayame and Yuuko nodded in agreement.

"Well, that's partially it, but there's a bit more to it. If she hasn't mentioned it on her own to you, then I probably shouldn't either. She'll probably tell you three eventually, and it isn't anything scandalous."

The three didn't question the younger girl and respected Miyako's decision of not sharing it with them.

"Well, at least we know that it isn't true, her and Izumi-kun dating, although," Chinatsu smiled a little, "it _would_ be pretty funny if they were."

"Oh! Who tells Misao-kun and Yuuji-kun that Mi-chan is going out with Ishida-senpai?"

Ayame laughed. "Koushirou-kun is no longer a threat to them now, only the best looking guy in school is!"

"No! The hottest guy in _all_ of Odaiba! No! In _all_ of Kanto!" Yuuko corrected.

They all laughed.

"It's almost time for me to head back. Bye guys."

With that, Miyako ran off, feeling a _lot_ better knowing the truth. She decided to head back to class, while Yuuko, Ayame, and Chinatsu headed back to the lunch room, all glad that neither of them was noticed by Yamato or Mimi…

x x x x

"Thanks a lot, Mimi!"

"It's no problem," Mimi smiled playfully to the taller, handsome blonde, "but if I find out that Chizuru-san didn't have a partner for the dance, then I will definitely hurt you."

"She seems to be well-known, so that's why it wouldn't surprise me if someone's already asked her. I don't really keep up with that type of stuff." Yamato looked down at his watch. "Whoa, I have to get going. I'll give you a call later, okay?"

"Sure thing. See you later."

After Yamato walked off, Mimi registered all that had just happened. She was going to attend the dance for the third-year students, even though she was an underclassman. She couldn't wait to share her news with Koushirou and the others; especially Sora. She figured that the two of them could accessorize.

She slid open the computer lab door to find Koushirou just lounging around. "Koushirou-kun," she called excitedly in sing-song, unable to contain her excitement, "I'm so happy!" She started to twirl as if she were in some kind of a beautiful fantasy world and taking in the scenery. "Yamato-san just asked me to be his partner for the dance this Saturday!" She stopped twirling and stood in front of the boy, who was still sitting in front of the computer. "Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," he stated casually. He really didn't _want_ to discuss it. "Well, I guess we should get back to this project. We have all of the information that we need."

"Wait, what about the dance? Aren't you happy for me?"

"Yes, I am," he said again, the same dull voice as before. "Now, as I was saying, we really ought to get this presentation together. You said so yourself."

"I know, but couldn't we talk about something fun for a while first? This is the first time in days that I've been really happy about something since I keep thinking back to Sunday…"

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to seem insensitive," he hastily apologized, guilt setting in.

"It's okay, you're just anxious to work on your project." She took the seat in the computer lab chair beside him. "So, are we still going to Odaiba Elementary School this afternoon?"

"No, that's okay. We have what we need."

"But what about your mother? I thought you wanted to find out some more things about her."

"Yes, but I can't go, okay!"

"How come?"

"Because we have what we need!"

"No we _don't_!" Mimi argued back, getting into his face. She was starting to grow annoyed over his attitude. It was odd how his attitude seemed to fluctuate at times, and seems it was mostly lately that this had been happening. "You need more information other than she died! You don't even know what grade she taught there!"

"I said to forget it! I'm _not_ going to that school and there's nothing that can make me!" He then looked at her crossly and stubbornly crossed his arms. "Besides, you should probably hurry up and get ready for your little dance with Yamato-san!"

Surprised over how harshly he was speaking with her, and how sarcastic and rude he was being, she asked, with an arched eyebrow, "What is _wrong_ with you?"

"Nothing, _okay_!"

With that, Mimi rose from her chair. She'd grown tired of this bickering session and was literally feeling anger towards the boy. "I _just_ don't understand you, Koushirou! First you were acting really nice to me, and I really loved it and spending time with you in that type of way, but now you're jumping down my throat and snapping at me for no reason at all!" She stomped away from him, but stopped after she opened the door. "Sora-san was right; I shouldn't even _bother_ trying to figure you out anymore!" her voice quivered. "I finally thought…that…we…" she trailed off, unable to finish.

With that, the girl tossed her long hair over her shoulder, and slammed the door shut. She didn't want to cry and had to compose herself.

Koushirou felt like vanishing as he heard her running away. 'I'm such an _idiot_! Why did I do that? It's not _her_ fault that I'm being punished. Why couldn't I just tell her that?' He rested his head in the palms of his hands, sighing heavily. 'Why have I been acting so _dumb_ when it comes to her lately anyway?'

Unable to answer his own question, and refusing to even consider the obvious, the boy rose from his seat and left the computer lab. When he left, though, he'd, unknowingly, dropped the copy of the article. Even though he used the excuse of being punished as to why he argued with Mimi in the first place, there was something else really bothering him and that something was named Ishida Yamato. If it had been a couple of years earlier, he probably wouldn't have given it a second thought.

A while after Koushirou left, Mimi came back. She felt a little better, and figured that she should talk to him again to get an apology from him. A _genuine_ apology, which would show that he knew _what_ he was apologizing for.

She opened the door and walked in. "Koushirou, I-"

She stopped when she saw that the room was empty. She figured that he'd already headed back to class, as the lunch period was nearly over. On her way out, she felt that she'd stepped on something. She knelt down and checked the bottom of her shoe to find a sheet of paper. She glanced over it. "This is the article about his parents' deaths. I wonder why he left it…"

Mimi folded up the piece of paper and stuffed it into her pocket. When she got back to class, she noticed that Koushirou didn't even glance her way. He started to, but stopped and suddenly took an interest in his text book. To Mimi, it even looked as though he were slightly blushing. It was quite obvious to the girl that he wanted to apologize, but Mimi took this personally. She felt that _she_ had done something that had obviously provoked him. She took her seat. She was so lost in thought over it, she didn't even mention to Yuuko or Ayame of how she was asked to the dance.

'Maybe Koushirou's upset because I didn't pay for anything. No, that can't be it. He offered and it would be unusual for someone to offer something if he had no true intentions of going through with it.'

The girl sat through the remainder of her tests, preoccupied over what she could do to get Koushirou to lighten up. The only thing she could come up with, though, was to find some information on Misayoshi Miki herself. She knew how much Koushirou _really_ wanted to learn about her and had made a deal over it just a day or so earlier.

'If _he_ doesn't want to go to Odaiba Elementary to find out about Misayoshi-san, then _I _will! I don't know why he wants to avoid the place or why he doesn't want to go, but I'll go!'

After school ended, Mimi took off. She was going to her former elementary school whether Koushirou wanted her to go or not…

Fic Chapter Changes

I calmed down on Taichi's thinking Sora was going out of her way to avoid him.

I changed the dance from Friday to Saturday.


	18. 18 Mimi's Quest

Hi again everyone. As you can see, there were no notes and hardly any changes from the previous chapter. Took a while for that, eh? As you can see, Miyako is jealous of the ever so popular Mimi and Koushirou is jealous of the ever so popular Yamato, hence the title last chapter. lol Either way, Koushirou started acting like an idiot because he's jealous and just doesn't know it or understand it, rather. Oh yes, and originally, the entirety of the last chapter, was due to the fact that I had a writer's block at the time and just came up with some more conflict for Koushirou and Mimi. That chapter did help, though, as it allowed me to come up with stuff to write for this chapter, which is very "Mimi-centric".

Now, for this chapter, Mimi heads over to Odaiba Elementary School. Expect to see a new original character and a couple of old ones. One could just call it a quest for her character, due to how adamant she is about it. I was also inspired by this chapter's title through Mimi's Adventure 02 character theme, _Super Girl_. I was pretty addicted to that song when I first heard it back then.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 18: Mimi's Quest!

Mimi rushed through the halls of Odaiba Junior High, her book bag in hand. Just like with Miyako, once Mimi put her mind to something, she would definitely do it! On her way out, she ignored pretty much everyone, but one voice seemed to stand out.

"Mimi-chan! Mimi-chan, wait up!" she heard a girl call excitedly to her. Mimi turned around to see Sora trying to catch up to her. "Mimi-chan, where are you running off to?"

Mimi noticed the look on Sora's face, ignoring the older girl's query. She looked as if she was itching to tell her something. "You seem so happy, what's wrong?"

"Oh Mimi-chan, it's so wonderful!"

"What's so wonderful?"

"I finally got asked!"

"_Really_! By who?"

"Taichi! He _finally_ asked me today! I'd been waiting for him to ask me for a long time. I was thinking of going along as someone else's partner and had decided that if he didn't by today, that I would with the first guy who asked. He was lucky that he was the first guy to ask me today. He was pretty casual about the whole thing, actually…"

x x x x

_The lunch bell chimed and Taichi gulped deeply. He walked up to Sora and asked her if she could join him out underneath the tree in the school yard instead of heading to the lunch room. Sora agreed._

_During the walk, many thoughts ran through the nervous soccer player's head. 'Should I ask in a goofy romantic way? No no, maybe I should give her some flowers and candy…but…then she might think something of it, although, White Day was a few days ago. I forgot about it until Hikari mentioned getting candies from some of the boys of her class. No no no! I can't do that. That's not like me. She'd definitely know something was up if I just showed up with candy and flowers for her. She'd view it as a late White Day gift. It's just a school function; it shouldn't be that big a deal asking.'_

_The boy, still debating on how he should ask his childhood friend to a potential romantic event, realized his time was up. _

'_Oh no! I'm too late! We're here!' He stopped sweating profusely, and grew determined. 'It's now or never, Taichi! I just have to ask her and leave it at that! I've put this off long enough! I should have asked her back in November when it was official that we were having it!'_

"_So, Taichi," Sora began, while messing with her hair, "why'd you want to meet here?" She really wanted her hairpins to stand out more than usual._

"_H-hey, Sora," the boy responded nervously. He mentally slapped himself. 'Get a hold of yourself, Taichi! I need to calm down! Sora will never go along with me if she sees me acting like an idiot!' Composed, he responded, "Well, it's so nice out today, I decided that the two of us could have lunch together out here."_

_Sora noticed that it was true, it was just the two of them, which she definitely didn't mind, but it was still a bit odd. Even Yamato wasn't around, and he normally always ate lunch, along with other students, with her and Taichi. Taichi had asked Yamato to keep everyone away for a while so that he could ask, which he did, scoring a date for himself as well with Mimi._

_The two took a seat underneath the shady tree, the wind blowing gently. The two were quiet during their lunches, as both were pretty nervous. Sora had butterflies in her stomach, while Taichi's stomach was doing flip-flops. Both were hesitant on eating. Sora really wanted Taichi to ask her to the dance, but he still didn't seem to "get it" despite all the hints she'd been throwing at him since they'd found out about it. It took a short while longer, but he finally got the nerve to ask, but took his own advice and decided to act like he would normally._

"_Yo, Sora, you have a partner to that dance yet?"_

"_No, do you?"_

"_No, so, want to go together?"_

_Sora smiled widely at him. "Of course! I thought you'd never ask!"_

_Taichi gave her his signature grin. "Cool…"_

x x x x

"Something else that was cute of him was that he noticed my hair when we were on our way back to class! The hairclips I'm wearing are the ones he gave me for my 12th birthday, and I made a big deal over them, thinking he didn't like my hat. He said that they looked really nice. You should have _seen_ his face when he said that, while scratching his nose! It was _so_ adorable and you could tell that he was nervous, because he's _never_ given me that type of a compliment before. He's given me compliments on my game playing, but that's about it.

"He also wants us to hang out later on, just the two of us. It's almost like a date! Isn't that cool? This is the best early birthday gift I could have _ever_ asked for! Taichi is _finally_ seeing me as a girl and not as 'one of the guys'!"

Sora finally calmed down, and realized that she was acting more like Mimi when it came to giving off news than _Mimi _was. As a matter of fact, she was acting a lot like Miyako.

"Oh, Mimi-chan, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to get carried away like that."

"That's okay. I'm glad that you were asked out by Taichi-san. I actually had a feeling that he was the one you were waiting on."

"Really? How?"

"Just a few small things you would do sometimes to get his attention or how you sometimes flirt with him, like when we went out to karaoke last week. I can't think of anything else right off, since I have to go."

"Where to? You never said did you?"

She shook her head. "I'm going to Odaiba Elementary School."

"Why Odaiba Elementary?"

"Misayoshi-san used to teach there before she died," Mimi reminded her. "I'm going to see what I can find out about her."

"Oh, I see. Where's Koushirou-kun? Is he waiting for you outside?"

"I don't know and right now, I really don't care!"

The two walked out of the school after changing their shoes, and Mimi, of course, ignored the many love letters that were stuffed into her locker.

"So, if Koushirou-kun isn't out here, and if that statement of yours is any indication, I'm going to assume that the two of you had a fight over something." Mimi's annoyed expression by the mentioning of "Koushirou" was all the evidence she needed. "What happened?"

Mimi explained all that had happened during lunch, and how Koushirou had treated her.

"That's not like him," Sora stated in concern. "There must be something bothering him to act like that. You said that he was really curious about his biological mother, but he doesn't seem to want to go to the place that could have a lot of personal information about her. As he would say, that 'just doesn't compute'. I also couldn't see him being upset over you going to the dance, even though that remark he made is a bit odd…"

"That has to be completely out of the question. Yamato-san is his friend. He shouldn't be upset over that," Mimi told her confidently. "Yamato-san is a great guy," she smiled.

"If _he_ has no incentive of going there then what's making _you_ go?"

"I guess, in a way, I'm hoping that I find something out about Misayoshi-san, like a photo, to cheer him up. I would go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Child Guidance Center, but there probably isn't anyone there who can actually tell us much about her. All they would have is basic information, nothing personal.

"When we went to Odaiba University, he seemed really upset that there were no photos of his father, but he's content now with that since he's finally seen him. Unfortunately, there's nothing for his mother and I'm sure it's depressing him. He's like a walking corpse. Every person we've spoken with who knew them all said the same thing; that Koushirou looks a lot like his mother.

"The woman at the orphanage said that he was the splitting image of her with his red hair and I agree, even though I've never seen her. I saw his father, and they aren't too similar in looks. They only seem to share the same kind of build, and in some photos in the graduation album, he wore serious expressions, and Koushirou wears expressions like that too. They also share the same, dark, blank mysterious eyes."

"I guess that would bother almost anyone, but is that really the _only_ reason you're going? Are you sure there isn't more to it?" Sora wasn't sure if Mimi was being completely honest or not. Miyako had sent her an extensive message during lunch about the kiss and the hug she'd given Koushirou. Sora didn't see it until after she got back to class after lunch, when going through her bag.

"Of course that's all there is to it. What else could it be?"

"N-nothing," Sora told her. 'If she's not going to tell me about it, then I can't really say anything, since I'm technically not even supposed to know about it.'

"He even dropped his article about their deaths."

"Wow, really?" Mimi handed Sora the article, who read over it. "Wow, this is so sad. So Misayoshi-san died in the hospital while Fukami-san died at the crash sight. Do you think that _this_ could be the cause of his bad mood?"

"Who knows…" Sora handed the article back to Mimi, who pocked it. "I'm wondering now if I should just leave all of this alone."

"Why do you feel that way? Koushirou-kun is your friend."

"I just feel as if I'm being a bother worrying over him so much. I feel like I'm nothing but an annoyance to him, which might explain why he was acting the way he was with me earlier."

"I sincerely doubt that. You're just being yourself, which he should be used of since he _is_ your friend. We're all used of that, and that's one of the things we like most about you. You're being very selfless right now, and you're putting the needs of someone else before yours. You were once the crest bearer of purity, and what you're doing now is really showing off how pure your heart and intentions truly are." Sora gave her a reassuring smile. "You really were best suited for the Crest of Purity."

"I guess you're right." Mimi smiled back. "Thank you, Sora-san. You're always so caring and always seem to know just what to say."

"You're welcome. Glad to help."

"You were really suited for the Crest of Love," Mimi told her.

Sora laughed as they came to the end of the walkway they had been traveling on.

"Well, I'm going in this direction. I have to get ready to meet up with Taichi later, so sorry I can't go along with you."

"Oh, that's okay. I'll be fine."

"Okay, and don't worry. Everything will work out and Koushirou-kun will eventually come around."

"I hope so. Well, see you later, Sora-san! I'll give you a call later on to see how things went and tell you what I find out."

With that, Mimi continued her walk to Odaiba Elementary School. It didn't take her long to get there, as Odaiba Elementary School, Odaiba Junior High School, and Odaiba High School, were all pretty close to one another. After arriving at the school, and slipping into a pair of slippers provided for school visitors, she didn't know exactly _where_ she should go since the thought hadn't even crossed her mind. 'I guess I could go to the library.'

She headed in the direction of the library, but came to the computer lab first and just stopped there to reminisce. She smiled, thinking back to all of the good times she and the others had had when they were still students there, and also thought back to the time that she had come back to Odaiba to attend her cousin's wedding, and met Miyako, Daisuke, and Iori for the first time.

"Mimi-san?"

She turned to see that the one to call her name was a boy a little shorter than she, and along with him, was the same energetic girl that Hikari had met at Sora's party.

"Iori-kun?"

"Who's that?" the girl beside Iori asked.

"Eiji-san, this is Tachikawa Mimi-san. She's a second year at Odaiba Junior High."

"Nice to meet you," Eiji greeted.

"Mimi-san, this is Tezuka Eiji-san. She's in my class."

"Hello." Mimi thought for a moment, and decided to ignore the strangeness of a girl having the name Eiji and focused on her family name. "Eiji-chan, do you have any older brothers?"

"No, I'm the oldest of my immediate family."

"Strange, I met a boy a few nights ago by the name of Tezuka Eijiro-san. I guess that doesn't matter, though, since the name Tezuka is a bit common in some places."

"Wait, what did he look like?" Mimi described the boy to her, which caused Eiji to smile. "That sounds like my older cousin, Eijiro-niisan! His father and my mother are brother and sister. I have their family name, but my younger brothers have my stepfather's name."

'Interesting how she can speak so openly about her family like that, and the implication of how her parents are divorced.'

"Wow, what a small world, Eiji-chan! Your cousin is very nice."

"Mimi-san, what are you doing here?"

"I'm working on a research project on an old teacher."

"Research? What teacher?"

"An old teacher, Iori-kun. She was teaching here before you were even born, and passed away a long time ago."

"Why would anyone want information on an old teacher?" asked Eiji.

"Well, surprisingly, I would. Like I said, it's for a research project."

"Hm, maybe you could try asking one of the older instructors here," Iori suggested.

"I guess that _would_ make sense," Mimi nodded. "Thank you, Iori-kun. Bye and nice meeting you, Eiji-chan!"

"She sure is a pretty girl and probably gets a lot of attention from boys, unlike me; I'm not pretty like her _or_ Narumi-chan," Eiji randomly said under her breath after Mimi had left them.

"Did you say something, Eiji-san?"

"Oh no, not at all," she insisted with a nervous chuckle.

Mimi kept going and made her way to the teacher's room. A lot of students were hanging around since school had let out and were pretty much goofing off or heading out to play soccer. They were all surprised to see a student Mimi's age there. A lot of the sixth-year boys were gawking at her.

"Excuse me." She opened the door and entered the teacher's room. A few of the teachers were seated at their designated spots, drinking coffee and eating snacks. One teacher, though, caught Mimi's eye.

"Fujiyama-sensei!"

The man wearing the black-framed glasses turned at the calling of his name. "Mimi? Tachikawa Mimi?" The man rose from his seat and made his way to the girl. "Wow, I haven't seen you in years! You're like an adult now!"

"It's nice to see you again, Fujiyama-sensei!"

"Now now, no need to call me sensei," the man laughed.

"R-right, Fujiyama-san." Referring to the man in such a fashion was just odd to her since it was such a habit to refer to him as sensei. "I'm surprised you still remember me. I just moved back to Japan last year."

"Moved back?"

"I moved to New York a few years ago with my parents. I moved back to Odaiba last year, but they're still in New York."

"Well, I guess that explains why I rarely ever saw you visit the school like the others. I remember all of you fairly well, anyway. How could I actually forget you and Yagami, and Takenouchi, and Izumi, and Kido, and Ishida? You were the only ones who chose to go elsewhere before heading home when you guys were at camp and we had to close up early. So, what brings you here?"

"Fujiyama-san, how long have you worked here?"

"I've been here since…the mid-80s. I was fresh out of college when I started teaching here. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm trying to find some information about a past instructor who used to teach here until her unexpected death in April of 1990. Hm, there's also a possibility that she'd stopped slightly before that."

"Hm, a past instructor? A deceased one?" Mimi nodded. "I don't know of any teachers who died after you all left here…"

"April of 1990, Fujiyama-san."

"Oh yeah, you did say that. Well, the only person I can think of is Misayoshi-san. She taught one of the first-year classes. I can't remember which, right off. I wasn't very good friends with her or anything. We were just acquaintances who usually only hung out during special events. She stopped teaching before April of 1990 though, because she'd had a baby."

"That's the person I'm trying to find information on! Do you know anyone here in this school who _can_ give me some information on her? She had to have had at least one good friend out of all of the faculty members here."

"Hm, a lot of teachers have left since I first started here, and that includes our principal and vice principal. Some have quit the profession to start up families and some have gone on to other schools to teach. Misayoshi-san was a very friendly person, so she did have some friends, but who is still around…" Mimi crossed her fingers hopefully. "She was pretty quiet, but did have a real knack for teaching."

"If you can't think of anyone, it's okay."

"No wait! Someone just came to mind!" the man nearly shouted, which caused Mimi to jump. "Nagataki Sui! She teaches class 4-3 and has been here just as long as I have. I remember she and Misayoshi-san used to hang around together a lot. After her death, Nagataki-sensei took it worse than anyone else here. I would have to say that they were best friends."

"Do you know where I could find her?"

"Well, since she's not at her desk in here, she's probably hanging around the library. She's usually always there after school writing out lesson plans or playing or whatever. She's always in the library. Seems the library is her safe haven. "

"Oh thank you so much, Fujiyama-sensei…I mean, Fujiyama-san!"

"Hehe, anytime," he told her.

After thanking the man once more, she made her way to the library, leaving him a tad bit bewildered, as Mimi hadn't really given a reason as to why she needed that information in the first place…

x x x x

Odaiba Elementary School Library…

Sitting at one of the library tables, were two women, obviously teachers of the school: Nagataki Sui and Sayuki Yuriko.

"It's getting more and more stressful every year when it comes to teaching, don't you think, Yuriko-san?" a stout woman asked.

"No kidding!" Ms. Sayuki laughed. "I actually had _three_ students come to class today late from lunch!"

"How?" The woman had pulled out a game board, and started to set game pieces upon it. "The students eat their lunches in the classroom. Was it during cleaning time?"

"I have no idea, but it seems that the children have been a bit more disruptive lately."

"It's probably because of the upcoming vacation." She wrote a couple of things down on a sheet of paper, and put it away. "So, Yuriko-san, want to play a game of chess?"

"I noticed you were setting it up. Trying to trap me here, I see," she joked. "Anyway, I would, but I can't. I have a dinner to get to today and glad the meeting was finished up early today. I have to take my children to my ex-husband's place for dinner tonight. _They_ insisted."

"I guess it's just another feeble attempt to try and get you and your ex-husband back together."

"Yeah, what else _could_ it be," she sighed. "Those children of mine just can't understand that our not being together is much better than our actually being together, especially my oldest daughter who constantly insists that I must've done something wrong for that ex of mine to act in the way that he did. If he wants to be with all the women he possibly can, let him. I don't want to be with someone who is constantly unfaithful. I stayed with him for years hoping that he would change, but I lost my patience over the entire situation, and if they can't see that, then too bad for them."

"All of that sounds so complicated, though."

"It is, but what can I do, right?" The woman stood. "Well, I'll talk to you later, Sui-san," Ms. Sayuki told her friend. "I'll give you a call tonight after dinner to let you know how it goes."

"Alright, talk to you later," Ms. Nagataki called to the woman. She then sighed sadly, and uttered, "Miki-chan would've played a game…"

Right after Ms. Sayuki left, Mimi walked into the empty library. She knew of Nagataki, but couldn't remember what she looked like right off. She had never had her as an instructor when she was a student there. The only person she saw in the library was the librarian behind the desk, reading the newspaper, and a stout, aqua-green-haired woman sitting at one of the tables with a chessboard set up in front of her, looking a bit gloomy. She then saw her start putting everything away. Mimi wasn't too certain if she wanted to approach this woman or not, but she decided to go on and do so anyway after the woman had finished putting away all the chess pieces and the board.

"Excuse me," she bowed, "my name is Tachikawa Mimi, and I need a bit of help."

The woman looked up at the girl, and forced on a gentle smile. "What's the matter? What can I help you with?"

Mimi studied her. The woman's round face was familiar to her. "I'm sorry if I am bothering you, but I am looking for Nagataki Sui-san. I have to speak with her, and I was told by Fujiyama-sensei that she would probably be in here."

"Well, you've found me."

"Ah, so _you're_ Nagataki-san! I'm very glad."

"Have a seat." Mimi sat down across from her. "So, what do you want to speak with me about?"

"I am working on a school project that requires me to do some research on an instructor who used to teach here. I asked around and was told that you knew her best."

"Who exactly are you referring to?"

Mimi pulled out the copy of the article, and shakily handed it to Ms. Nagataki. "The woman mentioned in this article, Misayoshi Miki-san. She used to teach here a long time ago until she passed away." Ms. Nagataki grew quiet as she looked over the article. "I'm sorry!" Mimi hastily apologized, now wondering if it _was _a bad idea to come to Odaiba Elementary after all.

"That's okay," she told her quietly, handing it back to her. "Please follow me."

Ms. Nagataki led Mimi to her classroom. Once in, she shut the door behind her and took out an extra adult-sized chair for Mimi. While she was doing this, Mimi was looking out at the student desks and their chairs, and how small they seemed to be now.

"Here you go," she offered.

"Thank you very much." Mimi took a seat in the chair while Ms. Nagataki took a seat at the desk.

"Miki-chan was a great teacher, and a great friend. It's sad how her life was cut so short."

"So both you and Misayoshi-san were very good friends?" Mimi asked, feeling silly for even bothering to ask, given how Ms. Nagataki had obviously addressed Ms. Misayoshi.

"We were childhood friends, the _best_ of friends. We grew up together, attended the same schools and everything. We even both went to Toudai together and came here to _teach_ together.

"I came to this school first, and then I suggested that she should start teaching since she gets along with children so well. At first, she wasn't sure if she should, but I persuaded her to, since she did have her teaching license. There was an opening here, and with her background, she was more than qualified to teach.

"We had a lot in common, like books for one. She loved to read, which was a good thing, because Miki-chan was a dreamer and very imaginative. She could have made a great writer. She was always pondering and hoping for the best. She was very optimistic and could find the good in almost anything and everyone, even though she never had a real family, until she met Satoru-kun."

She sniffled a bit, as she made herself continue on. "One of our favorite things to do together was to play chess, even though I was a terrible player, but I did learn from her. She loved the game, as well as *shougi, but not as much as regular chess. She was a great strategic thinker."

'Hm, just like Koushirou. He's a strategic thinker too, and usually plans ahead. Our time in the Digital World showed that, even when he ignored me in that temple, but I don't know if he knows how to play chess.'

"I sit around, sometimes, with the chessboard all set up, hoping that someday, Miki-chan will come back to play a game with me," she laughed a bit. "I know she's moved on to a better place, but it's still nice to dream."

Ms. Nagataki had some newly fallen tears streaming down her cheeks, but wiped them away before continuing on.

"She would always play as the black pieces, _never_ the white. She would _never_ go first. She always liked to keep an eye on her opponent's opening move, and then start to formulate a plan to counter it from there. She was such a remarkable player. I've never actually seen her lose. You could say that she was a chess genius."

Mimi continued to listen attentively. She felt sorry for her as she continued on. It really seemed that the two were very close to one another. At least that ruled out the theory that Misayoshi had grown up fully alone. She obviously had Ms. Nagataki.

"The one thing Miki-chan wanted _more_ than anything was a family, a _real_ family. She loved children so much and it really showed. I knew that she would make a great mother someday, if she became one, and she told me once, 'Sui-chan, if I ever have a child, I would like for you to become a secondary guardian to it, if something was to happen to either me or Satoru-san'.

"Then it finally happens one day! She and Satoru-kun were blessed with their first child. I wasn't around when she had the child because both of them were out of the country. When they came back, I got to see the baby. He was _so_ adorable! He looked like a nice balanced mix of the both of them back then, but that red hair of his stuck out tremendously, which is what Miki-chan was known for. It's just so _tragic_ that she and Satoru-kun were killed! The only one to survive was their son.

"I was willing to adopt him, but I couldn't because I wasn't a blood relative, and my becoming his legal guardian if something happened to Miki-chan and Satoru-kun was never legalized.

"After that, I was never informed on Little Koushirou's status or if he was placed with another family or not. Growing up in an orphanage is depressing and having to go from foster family to foster family is equally upsetting since you hope that you, eventually, are adopted. We both met as young children at the orphanage in Shinagawa. We remained friends, though, and she would always go to the same schools as I even if the school was out of her way. We promised each other back then when we were still both five years old that we would be friends forever." She lowered her head sadly. "I didn't even get to say goodbye to her…"

After that, Ms. Nagataki broke down and cried. Mimi went through her book bag, and pulled out a Kleenex. She handed it to the woman who was trying her best to calm down.

"Thank you," she sniffled slightly while wiping away her tears. "I'm sorry about that. Even though I know she's moved on, I still grow upset at times over it."

"That's okay, I understand."

"Why are you so curious about her?"

"I know her son."

"You _know_ where Little Koushirou is? You _know_ him?"

"Yeah, I do. As a matter of fact, he's a very good friend of mine, and for the past so many years of his life, he's always wondered about his real mother and father. We started this search a few days ago, and we found out a lot about Fukami-san, but not _too_ much on Misayoshi-san. He was starting to get discouraged since he hadn't found out much about his mother."

"So, Little Koushirou is okay?"

"He sure is," Mimi smiled.

"Where does he live? What school does he go to and what schools has he been to? I need details! Please tell me everything." Mimi promptly answered the woman's questions. "_Here_! He went to school _here_!"

"Yeah, only his family name was changed after he was adopted. It is now Izumi, and throughout this search, he still hasn't seen any photos of his mother. We couldn't find one, even when going through the Graduation Album from the University of Tokyo."

"Oh, yeah, Miki-chan was an odd one. She really hated taking photos, as she felt it drew too much attention to her. How she became that way was beyond both me and Satoru-kun. We feel that it may have had something to do with her past, as she had no memory of her former life. You know, we figured it was a repressed memory. Back then, it was pretty much encouraged to forget about your past life and to embrace your new one, but of course with older children, it's pretty difficult to do that unless you genuinely suffered some type of memory loss maybe from a traumatic experience or an accident. Most adopted children go throughout their lives without even knowing they're adopted given how young they were when actually taken in. There's usually no need to share that, and it was also somewhat negative."

"Negative? What's wrong with being adopted?"

"Well, for some, they have the feeling of never fitting in with the adopted family, and some feel that they're poisoning or tainting that family's name by not being a _real_ blood relative."

'Could this be what Koushirou was referring to? Did he really feel this way all this time?'

"Anyway, as for Miki-chan, she was a very private person and she also didn't participate in any clubs, because she spent most of her time, aside from studying, volunteering. I know she graduated at the top of our class, but she purposely missed out on the class photo and her individual one and never made it up. Even though she hated it, I'm sure she's ended up in some without her knowing, like maybe back in elementary school or maybe during a class trip. Satoru-kun and I both respected her choice, though."

"Wow, she's very private," Mimi noted. 'Koushirou's not like that, at least. I wonder what happened to her for her to have hated taking photos to _that_ extent.'

"The only time she would actually take a photo was for work reasons, like for her resume or the school newsletters that were sent to the PTA and to the parents." She sighed wistfully. "I really would love to see her son again. I've always wanted a family, but I was never blessed with the ability to, so adoption would be my only option."

"Ah, the time! I'm sorry, Nagataki-san, but I have to go." She stood and bowed. "Thank you for everything you've told me. I really appreciate the time you took out of your schedule for me."

She started towards the door, but she called back to her. "Tachikawa-san, wait a moment."

She opened up her desk drawer and pulled out three sheets of what looked to be shiny paper from where Mimi was standing. She made her way back to Ms. Nagataki. She handed the sheets to Mimi, who looked over them, and couldn't help but smile. "I want you to give these to Little Koushi," the woman instructed. "Chibi Koushi is what Miki-chan used to call him." She felt her eyes watering again.

Mimi nodded.

"Please inform him that he _was_ wanted, and that I would have taken him in if the rules hadn't have been so strict back then."

"Thank you very much, Nagataki-san. I'll definitely tell him!"

The woman told her a few more things in regards to what she had given her. Mimi left the school, and had a feeling that what she was about to share with Koushirou would cheer him up tremendously…

Author's Note

Note 1: Shougi is Japanese Chess. The concept is kind of the same as regular chess, but more difficult, imo.

Fic Chapter Changes

Originally, I had Sora cut Mimi off after asking where she was running off to, due to how excited she was, but felt that wasn't very "Sora-like".

I changed the location as to _where_ Taichi asked Sora to the dance. Originally, it was in the lunch room. I felt that outside on a bright, sunny day would work nicer.

This is a change I made early on…Mimi being more concerned over her grade for her part in the project as opposed to her helping out of the goodness of her heart and the fact that Koushirou is a friend.

Had Sora offer to go with Mimi to Odaiba Elementary School but give a reason as to why she couldn't. I didn't do this originally. They just parted ways at the intersection.

Changed Sui's surname from "Hanada" to "Nagataki". To spell out Nagataki, one would use the Kanji character for eternal (naga [永]) + the Kanji character for waterfall (taki [滝]). Eternal Waterfall. Just wanted something "water like" for her name and "Hanada" wasn't very original, getting right down to it. I left her given name alone, as that's very water oriented.

Gave Ms. Sayuki a full name. Originally, she was just referred to as "Ms. Sayuki" and "Sayuki-san". Decided to give her a given name.

I decided to give a reason as to _why_ finding a photo of Miki was so difficult. I didn't for the original version of this fic, as I actually _forgot_ to! See why I feel the original version of this fic is so…well…awful?


	19. 19 Miyako's Crushing Day

Hi again everyone. Thanks for reading and here's more for you. Okay, so we now have more information on Miki, and now Mimi will have to relay that information to Koushirou, but the question is, will she actually manage to before the boy does something drastic? You all shall see, eventually. lol

Anyway, I hope you liked Sui's character. I hope she didn't come across as one-dimensional or a "plot device". For the record, I implied last chapter that neither Mimi nor Koushirou had ever had her as a teacher, as Mimi and Koushirou seemed to always have the same classes together.

Now, for this chapter, it features Miyako, her two older sisters and mother, Koushirou, Misao, Iori (and his grandfather and mother, briefly), and the Izumis. Interesting combination, right? This chapter will definitely be focused around Miyako, though, and by the title, I guess you can _assume_ what it's going to deal with, as it was hinted at a couple of chapters ago. Oh yes, I must thank **Lord Puppetmon** for reminding me what Iori's mother's name was. I'd actually forgotten that she wasn't one of the parents whose name was never mentioned.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 19: Miyako's Crushing Day…

Over at the Inoue household, Miyako's older sister, Chizuru, sitting on the couch, along with Momoe, was gossiping away on the phone, over something she considered to be very important…

"Yeah, I heard about it! It was a second year he asked out, my sister's friend….Why are _you_ upset? I _still _don't have a partner!...You really thought that Yamato-kun was going to ask me?...Oh, that's silly. We aren't close friends, we're only acquaintances….Maybe I'll manage to get a partner by Friday morning at least….Oh, hey, I have to get going….What do you _mean_ why?...Well, if you _must_ know, I have some work to do around here. It's my day to cook dinner since my mother is watching the store….Okay, see you in school tomorrow….Bye, *Suzu-chan."

The short-haired, glasses-wearing teen hanged up the phone on the table beside the couch and sighed. She was really disappointed that none of the boys had asked her to the upcoming dance. All of her male friends, who only saw her as a friend anyway, had partners, Yamato included. She acted as if it didn't bother her that Yamato of all people hadn't asked her, but it actually did.

Walking into the living room, Miyako greeted her sisters. "Hey, Momoe-neechan, Chizu-nee, what's going on?"

"Hmm, hmm," Momoe responded distractedly.

"Nothing much. I'm just a little annoyed because I still don't have a partner to my own dance." She crossed her arms and "hmmphed". "I just _knew_ Yamato-kun was going to invite me along, but he didn't! I thought we were okay friends. He told me a while back that if he ever needed a partner to accompany him to certain things, that he would invite a friend, and not an obsessed fan, although, Mimi-san isn't one of them. She treats him the way I do."

"So you heard that Mimi-oneesama was invited to the dance by Yamato-san?"

"All of the third years know about it." Chizuru gave Miyako a questioning look. "What do _you_ know about it?"

"I heard and saw him ask her." Miyako headed towards the kitchen.

"What?" Chizuru jumped up from the couch and followed her younger sister. "You _heard_ him ask her along?"

Miyako went through the fridge, and took out a can of juice. "Yeah, and if you're wondering, you were his first choice to ask."

"Really?" Miyako nodded as she went into the cabinet to take out a glass. She then poured her juice in, while Chizuru gave her a skeptical look. "You're not _lying_ are you?"

She disposed of the can. "I don't have any reason _to_ lie," Miyako told her plainly.

"Are you positive?"

She took a sip of her juice before answering. "Yes, I'm _positive_!" Miyako made her way back to the living room, and sat down on the couch, while picking up the remote. Chizuru joined her, while Miyako flipped through stations. "Yamato-san said that he would have asked you, but he figured that since you're kind of well-known that some boy had already invited you to the dance. He really wanted to go along with a friend who didn't see him as an 'idol' like the majority of the girls do in general."

"It's nice that he considered me, but still would've been nice if he'd just asked me first."

Right at that moment, the phone rang. Momoe, who had been ignoring her two younger sisters, since she was engrossed with a book, looked up from her spot, and reached for the phone. "It's probably for me. I'm expecting a call from Jun-chan." After answering, the person on the other end apologized for dialing their number by mistake.

"How come you've been getting so many calls anyway?" asked Chizuru. "You're tying up the phone line! What if some boy is trying to get in touch in order to invite me to the dance on Saturday!"

"Where's _your_ phone?"

"On the charger, but still, you're hogging up the main line."

"Well, for your information, _nosy_, a few of us from my year are planning a trip for next month. We're still trying to figure out where to go, though. Jun-chan wants to go back to Kyoto, another friend of ours wants to go to Okinawa, and another wants to travel abroad, like maybe take a trip to Hawaii, but that's probably going to be out since it's so short notice to plan for _that_ type of a trip and we wouldn't be back in time to start Toudai. I'm glad Jun-chan and Mayumi-chan got in too. We studied very hard for the entrance exam, and all _three_ of us passed!"

"I wish we could take a trip someplace as a way to celebrate graduating, but I know some in my year are going to have barbecue parties eventually."

The phone rang again. Momoe went to answer it while Chizuru and Miyako watched television. "Moshi-moshi," she answered. "Oh, hold on." She held the receiver. "Miyako, telephone."

Miyako got up and took the phone from her sister. "Hello?"

"Hello, Miyako-kun," the other person on the other end answered.

"Izumi-senpai!" A smile made its way to her face as she tried to contain her excitement. "It's really nice to hear from you!"

"Yeah."

"What's going on?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had seen Mimi-san."

"No, I haven't seen her. I didn't see her or Sora-san this afternoon at their shoe lockers, so she must've left right after school."

"Oh okay," the boy said in disappointment. "Thank you anyway. Goodbye."

"No, wait, don't hang up!" Miyako pleaded. "Let's talk for a while."

"I really don't have time for this, Miyako-kun," the boy told her apologetically.

"But we don't talk much anymore, besides, I was curious about you. I wanted to know what was going on with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Y-you've been acing a little differently lately and I was just wondering why."

"But-"

"You've been acting weird when it comes to oneesama, and don't try to deny it because I've noticed it!"

"I'm sorry, Miyako-kun," he told the girl urgently, "but I really have to go, and I _really_ have to get in touch with Mimi-san."

The boy hung up the phone. Miyako felt as if Koushirou had stuck his hand into her chest, pulled out her heart, and crushed it in the palm of his hand. She had a _terrible_ crush on Koushirou, even though _she_ could never fully admit to it, since she usually came across as having eyes for Ken. She was quite open with being attracted to him, but it was definitely Koushirou she was currently drawn to. The only other person who had an inkling about Miyako's crush on Koushirou was the one person that Miyako could actually become somewhat envious and jealous of…Mimi. She had always suspected that Miyako had some kind of fondness for Koushirou, just like she had her suspicions regarding Sora's liking of Taichi. She even managed to notice that Yuuko seemed to have a crush on Yuuji, but knew never to attempt bringing that up.

It was odd how she was able to notice how others may have romantic feelings for others, but how she could never notice that when it came to boys liking her, aside from her main admirers. It was definitely true that Yamato _could_ have asked Chizuru, but he really _did_ originally have Mimi in mind. Lately, he had found Mimi to be very pleasant to spend time around, and realized that having her as a partner for the dance would have been the perfect opportunity for them to go someplace as if it were an actual date. Going to the karaoke box was another opportunity, but after Mimi found out about the discount, she turned it into a group event.

Once again, Miyako was jealous of her mentor and friend, since, lately, Koushirou had been paying a _whole_ lot more attention to Mimi than to her. Her sisters noticed the look on Miyako's face, as she held the phone in her hand. Both asked her what was wrong.

"Oh, nothing," she told them with a crooked smile.

She put the phone back on the hook, and rushed to her room to get her jacket. She then ran to the front door, and stepped into her shoes. She really didn't want to hang around with the way she was currently feeling.

"I better get down to the mart, it's my turn to watch it," she responded dully. She opened the door, and ran out, her heart aching, before either of her sisters could question her.

"What's she talking about? Weren't you going to watch it tonight?"

"Yeah, I was, but Miyako will probably be back soon," Momoe said. "I doubt either mom or dad would let her watch the store by herself at this time. They never did with us."

"I wonder what Koushirou-kun wanted."

"Who knows, but wouldn't it be interesting if they were going to meet up in secret?"

Chizuru laughed. "Like a secret date! She just made up that stuff about going down to the mart.:"

Momoe opened her book up again. "It's getting late. Shouldn't you get started on dinner?"

"I'm going, I'm going," Chizuru muttered, as she headed back to the kitchen.

x x x x

Down in the Odaiba Ai Mart…

"That'll be," a woman in glasses, began, "*¥663, please."

The customer handed her a ¥1,000 note.

"Thank you, please come again," the woman smiled and bowed to the customer after giving him his change.

When the customer left, Miyako walked in.

"Hey Miyako," Mrs. Inoue greeted, while putting the money into the register. "What brings you down here?"

"I wanted to watch the store."

"I thought your sister was supposed to watch the store. You know you're too young to be down here, by yourself at this time."

"Please?"

"You're too youg."

"You're always talking about how I could use more responsibility, so why can't I stay here until daddy comes down?"

"Maybe when you're a little older, like your sisters and brother."

"No!" the girl protested. "_Please_, I want to prove to you that I am _not_ a baby! That I _can_ take care of myself! That I _am_ better than Mi…er…oniichan, Momoe-neechan, and Chizu-nee!"

"Hm, I think I know what this is about," the woman smiled knowingly.

"You do?"

"You want to earn some extra money for some new outfit you probably saw at a department store or from one of those fashion magazines."

She nodded, hoping that it'd get her mother to leave sooner. She knew that Wednesdays were always slow business days and how that was the only place she could think of to go where she could be alone with her thoughts and away from her family.

"I guess that makes sense, but I still don't feel you're old enough to be here at this time of the night. Momoe was supposed to come down and watch it."

"But I could _really_ use the extra money."

"If that's the case, why not work during your normal time, like on Saturday or Sunday afternoons?"

"I want to challenge myself."

"Aww, my baby is so willing and eager to grow up!"

She sighed. "I'm _not_ a baby anymore."

It took a lot of persuasion, but Mrs. Inoue finally agreed to leave the store in Miyako's care. It was obvious that Miyako wasn't going to let up, which is why she finally gave in. She knew how the girl got when she was determined to prove herself.

'Why won't he talk to me?' the girl thought after her mother finally left. 'I thought I was his friend too.' She sighed. 'He's shutting me out of his life, but willingly letting her in…why?'

x x x x

After the phone conversation with Miyako…

'I didn't want to do that, but I'm technically not even supposed to be on the phone.' He sighed while holding his cordless phone. 'Where in the world _is_ she?'

The boy had tried phoning all of his friends, when he could sneak away to do so, as he was trying his best to avoid getting into trouble. When he tried Yamato, he mentioned how he hadn't seen her since lunch. When trying Takeru, he mentioned how he had no idea when he'd seen Mimi last. When trying Jou for both his mobile phone and home phone, he got his voice mail. When he called the Hida household, Iori hadn't arrived home yet. Hikari mentioned that Taichi was out with Sora, and hadn't seen or heard from Mimi recently, just as Ken had told him. When he called the Nishimura home, since he couldn't get Mimi on her mobile, her uncle explained how she hadn't gotten home yet, but would pass along the message to her.

Koushirou had even grown desperate enough to look through his student register so that he could phone Misao. He always considered him, as well as other devoted "Mimi admirers", borderline stalkers. Misao just seemed to be the leader of the pack…

x x x x

"_Izumi? Izumi Koushirou? Com__**pu**__ter Club Izumi?"_

"_Yes, this is 'Izumi Koushirou', which you have obviously established," the boy answered back in extreme exasperation._

"_You're calling me," the boy uttered out, still surprised. "Why?"_

"_I'm just as surprised as you are."_

_The tall, buff, dark-haired boy was actually a bit concerned. Even though the two weren't the best of friends—they were barely acquaintances—he figured that something __**had **__to have been wrong for Koushirou to call him of all people voluntarily._

"_What's wrong?"_

_Koushirou muttered to himself in annoyance. He really hated the fact that he was actually wasting his time calling Misao, especially concerning Mimi._

"_**Well**__?" he asked again since Koushirou had gone quiet, debating over whether or not to go through with the task._

"_Oh, I was just wondering if you'd seen or heard from Mimi-san," he stated almost regrettably._

"_No, I saw her leave right after school. I think she left with Takenouchi-san. I was going to offer to walk her home before Yuuji asked, but she left before I had the chance to," the boy nearly cried._

_He rolled his eyes over how ridiculous Misao was acting. Koushirou knew that Misao, as well as the others who were obsessed with Mimi, annoyed him, and vowed to never call this boy again, and passed on even considering calling any of his fellow inseparable buddies, although, granted, Ukyo wasn't all that bad, if he had anything to say or ask concerning Mimi._

"_I am __**so**__ sorry to hear that, Takamatsu-san." The tone of Koushirou's voice came across as insincere and fake. He sounded as if he was trying to be sympathetic, but it was oozing with loads of sarcasm._

"_Don't you start anything, Izumi!" Misao threatened, taking notice of Koushirou's tone._

"_Who says that I am?" he replied back coolly._

"_Why are you looking for her anyway?" he questioned him, growing suspicious of the redhead's intentions. 'He better not be considering asking her out or I__** will**__ find a way to hurt him!'_

"_She has some class notes of mine and I just wanted to retrieve them from her."_

"_Oh…that's all…"_

"_What did you think it was?"_

"_N-nothing."_

"_I'm sorry to have bothered you, Takamatsu-san. I'll go now."_

"_Izumi, wait! Don't hang up yet."_

_Koushirou stayed on the line, wanting the boy to hurry up. "What?"_

"_C-could you do something for me?"_

"_What do you want me to do?"_

"_When you speak with Mimi-chan, could you ask her if I could walk her home after school and if she'd like to hang out with me tomorrow evening?"_

_A look made its way to Koushirou's face meaning, "Is he serious?"_

"_**Please**__?"_

"_Sure, I just hope I remember to actually ask. Good bye."_

_The boy hanged up the phone quickly before Misao could say anything further. He really wasn't planning on passing along __**that**__ message…_

"_I'd ask her to spend the evening with me before I would ask for a guy like him!"_

_He mentally slapped himself. He couldn't believe that he had just indirectly said that he would like to ask Mimi out for something other than his project. He shook off the thought and decided to __**not **__ask out Mimi for Misao's sake, __**or **__his…_

x x x x

"What should I do? I really have to apologize to her!"

Koushirou got up and walked into the hallway, preparing to leave, until he was startled from behind.

"Koushirou, where are you going?" a shorter woman asked the boy.

"Oh, hi there mother. I just realized I forgot and left my English textbook at school on my desk, and I have to go pick it up," he told her, agitatedly. 'I have to find my article too. I haven't seen it since lunch, thinking about it now.'

Mrs. Izumi didn't seem convinced. "Really? Why do you need your English textbook if you've already taken your exam for the subject?"

"Well, I…wanted…to look up a phrase I think I may have gotten wrong on the test." He started to sweat bullets. 'Is that convincing enough? I really hope so. Mother, please let that be enough. I _have_ to find Mimi-san! I have to apologize before I lose my nerve!'

"That makes sense, I guess, but I'm sure it can wait until tomorrow," she told him sternly. "You're being punished right now. You're not supposed to leave for any reason, except for school or if I need you to run an errand for me."

"But mother, I _really_ have to go! It's very important. I have to go see Mi-um…if those answers were correct!"

"Then tell me the truth," the woman pleaded while staring into his eyes. "What is _so_ important that you're willing to disobey us and make us have to be even stricter with you, like taking your laptop away? Your father was considering taking away both your desktop and your laptop, but I persuaded him not to given that you're still doing school work, like that project for your history class. Where do you have to go?"

He lowered his head in defeat. "No place. It can wait until tomorrow."

Mrs. Izumi felt awful. She hated doing this to her son, but he had to learn _not_ to be so defiant and to stop sneaking around. She could tell that Koushirou was still being dishonest with her, which was why she followed through with the punishment. "Koushirou, there are some dishes in the kitchen that need cleaning. Would you please go wash them and clean up in there?"

Koushirou obediently nodded, and headed to the kitchen to wash the dinner dishes. A short while later, Mr. Izumi returned to the not so humble home holding a bag.

"Hey, dear," the man greeted habitually while stepping out of his shoes. He was surprised to be greeted by no one, and started to look around, the living room first. He saw his wife sitting on the couch in front of the television, which was shut off. "Oh, there you are." He made his way over to her. "I managed to find what you sent me out for at the *conbini nearby. Yakiimo Ice!" He handed her the bag. "Enjoy," he said with a smile.

"Thank you," the woman answered while taking the bag halfheartedly.

Noticing his wife's distant look, he asked, "What's the matter?"

Mrs. Izumi explained what had happened, which caused him to frown slightly. After putting the small, one-serving sized ice cream into the freezer, Mr. Izumi briefly saying hi to Koushirou, as he was still cleaning up, the two headed to their bedroom to speak privately.

"What could be going on with him?" the man asked after they'd reached their room, looking down at his wife, who had taken a seat on the foot of the bed.

"I don't know, but I still feel he's lying about something. It seems obvious that he is."

Mr. Izumi took off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with his shirt tail. "So, he wouldn't tell you why he wanted to go out or where he wanted to go, and is covering it up with more lies." He put his glasses back on. "I don't know what else we can actually do." After hearing that, Mrs. Izumi started to cry. "Yoshie, what's wrong?"

"This isn't like our Koushirou! It's not supposed to be this way. He's supposed to be our perfect little boy! It's probably my fault that he ended up like this!"

"No, no, don't say that!" Mr. Izumi sat beside her, and cradled her in his arms soothingly. "It is _not_ your fault. It's both our faults. We must were too lenient with him and spoiled him after we lost our _own_ child. We pretty much spoiled _every_ child we had in our home after our son's death, despite the discrimination we faced for it." She got out of his grasp and wiped her eyes, and started pondering. "Yoshie?"

"I-I'm starting to wonder if it's something else, not our spoiling him, because of what you said earlier. We really have never had any type of problem with him. He's always been well-behaved and well-mannered. I'm just starting to feel that he's _definitely_ covering for someone."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"I just have this feeling that he's covering for someone," she told him again. "I also feel that he isn't doing this because he wants to, but because he _has_ to."

"First he's a bad child, and now you're saying he's a good one?"

"No…not really." She shook her head in slight confusion. "I don't know what I'm fully saying. I just _strongly_ feel that he's covering for somebody. Let's look back at Sunday. He was gone all day; he said he was studying with Taichi-kun, but we know that's false because Taichi-kun, along with everyone else, was at the party that Sora-chan had. Before going, he mentioned something about Mimi-chan.

"Today, he was going on about having to see something, and I doubt he was talking about his textbook because of how serious he came across. I think he was about to mention a person, but covered it up with a lie. I think there's something happening with Mimi-chan, and Koushirou is covering for her and just doesn't want us to know about it."

"Hm, interesting theory. Do you _really_ think that's what it is, though?"

"It's a bit out there, but yes, that _is_ what I truly think."

"So do you feel that we're punishing him for nothing?"

"Well, in a way...maybe. I mean, he _does_ have to learn to be a bit more respectful, but it's odd because, as we both have noticed, he's never been this way before. He also needs to understand that whatever situation he my face, that he can come to us about it. I just hope he learns this."

Before he could respond, the two heard a light knock at their door.

"Um, mother, I've finished cleaning up everything. I cleaned the dishes and put them away. I'm going to work on my history project now."

"Okay, dear."

"If you are going to sleep now, even though it's still early, good night anyway."

With that, Koushirou went to his room and locked himself in. He still had the lock on his door that he'd put up when he returned home from summer camp years earlier, and put it up as a way to keep his parents out when he was hiding Tentomon. The boy was really backed into a corner. He didn't know if he wanted to sneak out to go look for Mimi or just sit in his room worrying the entire night. He had sent an e-mail message to her phone asking for her to call him, but she had yet to send a return one, which made him feel that she was avoiding him for his reprehensible behavior towards her earlier.

Given how stressed out he was feeling, he wished that he had his Digimon companion, Tentomon, with him for some of his advice and wisdom, but there was a problem with that. Even though traveling to and from the Digital World wasn't much of a problem now-a-days, the children getting in touch with their partners was always a hassle since they partied and hanged around leisurely, given that there weren't any threats. They were like this a lot, especially during the school year since all of the Digimon understood how busy their human partners were since they were getting older. The only one who still had _some_ time on his hands was Iori due to his still being in grade school. Koushirou knew that he probably wouldn't be able to get in touch with Tentomon, or any of the others, until their spring vacation officially started, and he definitely didn't want to bother Gennai to look for Tentomon for him.

He sat down on his bed, contemplating on what he should do…

x x x x

Back at the store…

Miyako was still sulking, moping, and lost in her thoughts over "Izumi-senpai". Both Chizuru and Momoe were surprised to find that Miyako really _did_ want to watch the store. Their mother told them that Miyako wanted to earn some extra money to buy a new outfit. Momoe just laughed and joked with Chizuru that Miyako probably wanted to buy a new outfit "to impress Koushirou-kun" while Chizuru joked and said, "or maybe Ken-kun."

The girl remained behind the counter in the quiet, currently dead store, drowned out in her own thoughts, oblivious to the customer who had just entered the premises. She didn't even greet the customer in the same, routine manner like she would normally, due to her being so distracted. She just didn't understand Koushirou. How could she have such great respect for a person who rarely talks to her anymore? That's what she kept asking herself. She really missed her conversations and all the time they spent together before Mimi moved back to Japan. It never really bothered her before, but it had been more so since he was seemingly tuning her out altogether, even before he started the history project.

"Miyako-san?" the customer called, wanting to pay for his purchases.

She looked to see a boy standing in front of the counter. "Oh, hello there, Iori." She smiled to him, as it was proper to greet customers with a warm, friendly smile.

"What are you doing here, Miyako-san?"

"I volunteered to watch the store until my father comes down."

Iori noticed the tone of Miyako. It wasn't very energetic, playful, outgoing, or happy, like it would be normally. He was actually expecting her to give more of a reason for being there, as it wasn't common for her to be there at that time of the day.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just hoping I passed my math exam with a perfect score," she lied.

"Is _that_ all? You probably did very well," Iori told her confidently. "You are very good at math and you're great at tutoring it too. You help people in your class all the time, and you've helped me with mine at one point."

Miyako rung up Iori's purchases, which consisted of drinks for him and his family. He paid her. "Thank you very much, Miyako-san."

"You're welcome."

"You know, my mother wanted me to ask if you would like to join us for dinner later on this week. It's her way of thanking you for fixing our computer a short while ago."

"Mind if I take a rain check?" she asked him gloomily.

"But my mother was going to have sweets," he added on. He knew how much Miyako loved cake. He knew quite a bit about the older girl, as she'd been pretty much a baby-sitter to him when younger or more so an older sister to him.

"That's okay." She changed the subject. "You better hurry and get those drinks up to your family, along with that Chu-jelly. I know how much your grandfather loves those."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. I better get going. We're having a late dinner today since mother knew I was coming home late. Bye, Miyako-san!"

The boy rushed out of the mart, and headed upstairs to his apartment. He felt it was strange how Miyako wasn't acting like herself and how she turned down having sweets. When he finally arrived, his mother thanked him for remembering to pick up drinks and informed him that he'd received a call from Koushirou.

"Koushirou-san?"

"Yes, he sounded like he really needed help with something."

"I guess I should call him back. Too bad he couldn't call my mobile phone, since I hadn't given him my new number yet."

"Well, hurry. We're about to sit down to dinner and I know you don't want a cold dinner."

"Yes, and we all know that a cold dinner is the worst kind of dinner for one to have," Iori's grandfather, who was sitting at the table, stated wisely while pulling on his bushy mustache. He then spoke in a playful manner, and commented, "Unless the dinner consists of natto, which is a terrible meal no matter _how_ warm or cold it is."

Mrs. Hida laughed at her father-in-law, and sat at the table, after setting a place for Iori. Iori, on the other hand, decided to phone up Koushirou…

"Hello, Mrs. Izumi."

"Hello there, Iori-kun. How are you?"

"I'm fine. My mother told me that Koushirou-san called here looking for me, and I guess he couldn't message me or anything since I haven't gotten the chance to give him my new number and mobile phone address. I was wondering if anything was wrong."

'When in the world did he call Iori-kun? Not using the phone was a part of his punishment. It must have been important for him to risk something like that.'

"Mrs. Izumi?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I don't know why he called, but I'll go get him."

The woman walked over to Koushirou's door, and turned the knob, but the door wouldn't budge. She knocked lightly, but didn't get an answer.

"Koushirou…Koushirou…phone…" There was still no answer. "I'm sorry, Iori-kun. He must have gone to bed early. I guess he exhausted himself out for the day. He's not answering."

"Okay, then. Please tell him that I did call back and that he needs to get my new number and e-mail address."

"Okay, I will. Bye, Iori-kun."

"Was Koushirou-kun okay?" asked Mrs. Hida, after Iori had taken his seat at the table.

"I'm not sure. Izumi-san said that he must have gone to bed since he didn't answer her."

"That's strange, going to bed _this_ early. I know we're eating later, but it's just after 19:00 (7:00)."

"I am sure that whatever the problem was that he had has been solved," Chikara input wisely, "now, let's dig into this wonderful meal that Fumiko-san has prepared!"

The other two nodded. "Itadakimasu!"

x x x x

"Yoshie," Mr. Izumi called, noticing his wife's look, "what's wrong?"

"Koushirou has locked his door."

"I guess he doesn't want to be disturbed while doing his work."

"Or maybe he decided to go to sleep early…even though this is _very_ early for him…"

The woman didn't really believe what she had just said, though. She had the feeling that Koushirou was, once again, being secretive. She didn't know how right she was, for Koushirou wasn't in his room, he'd snuck out…

Author's Notes

Note 1: This is just an "irony" situation, for the most part, regarding "Suzu", whose full name is "Suzuko". No, she's not really important, _but_ I do use this character in the sequel to this fic, but no guarantee I'll put the fic up. Her role was very miniscule.

x x x x

Note 2: At the time I originally wrote this, ¥663 was a bit over $5.00 if rounding. Now, ¥663 would be about, $7.30, give or take, but who knows since the exchange rate is constantly changing. For all I know, the rate could be higher than this now or maybe even lower.

x x x x

Note 3: A "conbini" is pretty much a convenient store or a mart, like the Obaiba Ai-Mart Miyako's family runs, and seems Japan has many of those.

Fic Chapter Changes

First chapter change…Miyako's drink. lol Originally, I had her take out a can of soda, as opposed to juice.

Momoe teased Chizuru more for the original. For instance, she made a joke about how she's going to starve because Chizuru was cooking and joking about how Chizuru was a bad cook. Chizuru then compared Momoe to their older brother (Mantarou), who would usually act the way Momoe was.

Originally, when I had Mrs. Izumi tell Koushirou to go do the dishes, she came across as more…blunt about it and it came across as more of an order as opposed to a request. She was pretty much, "Go do them!" That type of thing.

Originally, I had Mrs. Izumi wanting strawberry ice cream, but decided to go with a more exotic flavor, hence the "yakiimo ice" which is a "Roasted Sweet Potato Ice Cream".

The "wise words" (yeah right, lol) spoken by Chikara about the natto were changed. Originally, I had him say brussel sprouts, since, at the time, I couldn't think of any other type of food that had an odd taste or either one that required the person to have an acquired taste for it. So yeah, brussel sprouts was changed to natto and having finally tasted it, due to staying in a part of Japan where the area was known for its natto...yeah, definitely an acquired taste is needed to enjoy it to the extent that Mimi's character does. To be honest, though, for the ways that I had it (mochi, ramen, udon, traditional breakfast side, etc.), I didn't mind it. The first time I tried it, I didn't like it (but I was also eating breakfast at a Denny's in Mito [which is Kanto region/close to main Tokyo]), but the times after, while in Yamagata and Yonezawa, I did like it.


	20. 20 Busted!

Hi again everyone, thought I'd surprise you with updating two chapters to make up for the lack of updating I did. There really isn't much I can add in reference to the previous chapter, aside from the fact that I tossed in the randomness of the two Inoue sisters including Miyako maybe wanting to impress Ken too. Originally, I only had them mention Koushirou...I'd actually forgot to throw in Ken too and thought to do so after the fact. Well, for this chapter, it's kind of short in comparison to some of the previous ones. I don't think there'll be much in the form of notes, but probably quite a few changes.

Anyway, for this chapter, Mimi is featured at home, and Koushirou is in this chapter, and yes, imo, this chapter could have been better in regards to him for it.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 20: Busted!

After Mimi finished speaking with Ms. Nagataki, she ran into Iori once again, and talked to him for a while. She explained to him that she was planning on going over to Koushirou's place to give him the information that she found, and that the two were both working on the project she'd referred to earlier together. The plan was changed, though.

She decided to head home instead of going over to the Izumi's. It was starting to get a bit late, and she didn't want to worry her family like before. She hadn't called to let them know where she was going since her phone's battery had died on her. She talked to her aunt for a brief while before it did die on her, though. Another reason she decided to go on home was because she _still_ wasn't too keen on hanging out in the evening by herself, especially since she took the bus back to her place, and it took nearly two hours this time around because of the unusual amount of traffic and actually missing her stop, due to her being lost in her thoughts over how anxious she was to surprise Koushirou with the information she'd managed to get.

When she arrived home, she was greeted by her uncle. "Hey there, Mimi. I'm glad you finally made it home."

"Good evening, uncle. You're home early today."

"Well, yeah, being promoted has its perks," he laughed. "Going in extra early is a great benefit."

"I'm sorry I'm a little later than I would be usually."

"Don't worry about it. Sué is still out with the kids. She was out when I got here. No need to apologize. You have a good head on your shoulders, and you're a smart girl.

"Anyway, I called Sué a while ago, and she mentioned that she was going to pick up something for dinner, and that she was running late."

"Okay."

With that, Mimi went up to her room, and put her book bag down and plugged in her phone to charge. She then headed over to the cordless landline phone, as she had a couple of calls to make, one being for Koushirou and the other person she had in mind was Sora. She also wanted to talk with Miyako. She dialed the familiar number, which was answered by Mr. Izumi. He too tried knocking on Koushirou's door; but just like with his wife, he didn't receive an answer.

"I guess he went to sleep early, or maybe he's wearing headphones while working on something," the man stated. He was starting to get the same strange feeling that his wife had about Koushirou's silence.

"That's okay. I had something to give him, but I guess it can wait."

"Something you wanted to give him?"

"Yes, it's for his history project, but that's okay. I'll just give this to him tomorrow. I know he can't finish it without it."

"S-sure. I'll be sure to tell him that you called. If you want, you can drop off whatever it is you have, and then we could give it to him."

"Oh no, that's okay. Just let him know I'll see him at school tomorrow."

"Hm, did Koushirou try giving you a call earlier?"

"No, I don't think so. I haven't been home long and my phone's battery died while I was out so no calls through that."

"Alright, then. Well, have a nice evening."

"You too, Mr. Izumi. Good bye."

The man hanged up the phone, deep in thought. He was pretty curious as to what it was that Mimi had for Koushirou.

"Oh! That old Koushirou! I just know he'd want to see these."

She stayed in her room a bit longer, trying to figure out what she should do. She _really_ didn't want to wait until the next day to give them to him. Mimi didn't get the chance to "think" for long. Isako had run up to her room, to tell her that it was time for dinner. Her aunt and her cousins had, apparently, arrived home a short while before Mimi had dialed up the Izumis' number.

"Mimi-oneechan, it's time for dinner!"

Mimi opened the door, and smiled down at her cousin. "I'll be right down."

She changed out of her school uniform into something more casual, and hurried down to join her family. She knew that her aunt was going to pick up something for dinner, but was surprised to see she'd gone with KFC. Her aunt had ordered a fried chicken meal with a side of coleslaw and four biscuits.

During dinner, she started to debate with herself again on whether or not she should go over to the Izumis, but changed her mind, and dismissed it. She didn't want to go over there alone. 'I'll stick with talking to him tomorrow. It's getting dark anyway.'

"Oh yeah, Mimi, your friend called here looking for you," Kichibei told the girl while sipping on his beer. "Your redheaded friend. I forgot to mention it earlier."

"He did?" she asked in surprise. 'He probably wanted to apologize for the way he acted towards me earlier.'

"Yeah. He called when I got in."

'That's weird. Why would he call here and then _not_ be around when I call him back?' She took a bite out of her biscuit. "I guess he got tired of waiting on me to return his call. I had just gotten off the phone with Mr. Izumi when Isako-chan came up to get me for dinner."

"Is Kou-niichan sad again?" asked Isako, who was eating on a drumstick.

"No, he's just asleep, I guess, according to his father."

"You know, other people called here looking for you too," her uncle informed the girl. "Your friend Yuuko called and your friend Yamato."

Sué laughed. "Dear, is there anyone else that you've forgotten to tell us about who called?"

"I'm not used of all of this phone responsibility. I had no idea she was so popular," he laughed along with her.

Sué started to feed Ton his baby food, who laughed playfully. "Mimi-chan, how was school today?"

"It was okay," she answered plainly, as she didn't want to bring up the pointless argument she'd had with Koushirou. "Oh yeah, remember that dance that the school is sponsoring for the third years on Saturday?" Her aunt nodded. "Well, looks like I'll be going."

"It's only for the third years, though, how come you're able to go?" asked her uncle.

"I was invited to go. Underclassmen are allowed to attend if invited by an actual third year."

"Who is the boy who invited you?" asked Kichibei. He wasn't sure if he liked the idea of that. "Do we know the boy? Does he understand the circumstances if he does anything to harm or hurt you? Does he-"

"Dear, calm down!" his wife interrupted.

"Well, I just feel that it's our responsibility to make sure he's a decent person."

"He's fine, uncle," Mimi insisted. "The one who invited me along to be his partner was Yamato-san. I've known him since I was a kid, and he's one of my closest friends."

"Oh, that local celebrity," Sué said.

"The one who called earlier?"

"Yes, that's the one. Yamato-kun is a very nice young man, and also respectful. Seeing as how he's friends with Mimi-chan, everything will be fine."

"I'm sorry for my outburst."

"That's okay, ojisan. You're just acting like a typical father. My father would have reacted the same way. He used to grow protective of me whenever I would hang around my old friend Michael, and we were never anything more than friends. He always thought we were more than that, though."

"Tell me about it!" Sué heartily laughed. "Your father used to _always_ keep his eye on me when it came to boys, and I'm just his sister. Having a relationship was difficult for me with him around. He would interrogate the boys he didn't know much about time they entered the house. Your grandfather was the same way, but he was even worse! He would always ask what the boy's intentions were and other embarrassing questions like that and wanted to make sure he was worthy enough for the Tachikawa family."

"With the way those two were, I'm surprised we actually had time to go out at all," Kichibei said. He scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit silly. "I think I may have picked up on some of their habits."

"At least it wasn't a daily thing. After the first few times—in other words, the first few months—those two finally left us alone and both realized that you were okay for me, worthy enough to be my husband, and we married. We've been together for…what? Nearly ten years now and married for eight."

"Wow, I didn't know ojiichan was like that too."

"Yes, father was exactly like that, only he was very strict on the dating policy, as well as a bunch of other things, and was overprotective of his daughters. I'm going to assume that's why Hana-chan went out on her own the way that she did due to her feeling that she was being smothered and closed in by father's rules. Mother agreed with everything he said, so she wasn't very helpful in those types of situations. Both of them were very old-fashioned, which is probably why they came across as being so strict.

"Hana-chan moved to China after finishing up her final year in school and headed over to Shanghai City. We haven't heard much from her since. It's been a few years since I've spoken to her last. I don't even know if she has the new address and phone information of Kesiuke-niichan. I'm not even sure if she's married or if she has children now."

"How come I've never met Aunty Hanako, mommy?"

"Because she lives far away, that's why. Hana-chan lives in another country, just like Mimi-chan did before she moved here with us. It takes a very long time to get there and you have to spend all day in a plane because it's so far."

"That sounds boring!" the girl complained. "I wouldn't want to stay in a plane all day!"

"Neither would I, but if it meant going to see my baby sister, I'd go through with it."

"Is Aunty Hanako nice?"

"Yes, she's very nice. She was also very smart and would help teach her classmates when she was in high school. She helped the majority of her class."

"Do you know Aunty Hanako?" Isako asked Mimi.

"No, I've never met her. My father doesn't really talk about her much."

Tachikawa Hanako was the youngest of the Tachikawa siblings. She was the rebel of the three and hated the strict ways of their parents, and the first opportunity that presented itself for her to move, she did. She still resides in Shanghai as a grade school teacher.

"Maybe she'll come home someday. It would be nice to see her again. It's sad how we've lost contact with her."

The woman sighed as they continued with their meals…

x x x x

Over at the Izumi home, more calls came in from those Koushirou had called, such as Taichi, Sora, and Jou. They were all told the same exact thing; Koushirou had gone to bed early. All three felt that something wasn't quite right, given the time, and that he'd bothered calling them in the first place. They also tried sending an e-mail to the boy and tried his mobile phone, but didn't get anything. Calling him at home was the last resort.

"I wonder why Koushirou called his friends and what he wanted."

"No phone was a part of the punishment," Mr. Izumi muttered.

"I know, but I guess it's pretty tempting since he _does_ have both a mobile phone and a cordless phone in his room," Mrs. Izumi sarcastically responded back in irritation.

"Okay, okay…I should have taken the phone away."

"You should have done _that_ in the first place!" she snapped at him.

"Okay, I _will_, first thing in the morning!"

"Fine!"

The woman stormed off to the kitchen, and went to find the small carton of ice cream her husband had brought her earlier.

"Um…d-dear, are you feeling okay?"

The woman continued muttering under her breath in annoyance, as she went through the kitchen drawer to find a spoon. Once she found it, she took it from the drawer, and slammed it shut. "I'm _fine_!"

She dipped the spoon into the small carton and started to eat it.

"If you want, I could get you a small bowl, or maybe I cou-"

"I said that I'm _fine_!"

She swallowed down another spoonful of the ice cream while Mr. Izumi backed off. He figured that she was just having another one of her mood swings. Being pregnant was really causing her slight irritation to be much worse than normal. At the moment, she just didn't want to be bothered. She was upset over the fact that Koushirou had disobeyed them again, by calling his friends, despite the theory she'd had earlier. What she _really_ wanted to do was to knock the door down and throw away the lock he kept on it constantly. She knew that a boy his age was entitled to his privacy, and how it was nice that their place was big enough for that, but this was too much for her.

"Dear, maybe you should get some rest," Mr. Izumi recommended timidly.

The woman ignored her husband, and took the remainder of her ice cream to the table, and set the container down on it. She then grabbed one of the chairs and sat it in the hallway's entrance. He didn't know what to do with his wife. He didn't want her to stress herself and possibly do anything that could be bad for either her or the growing baby.

"Yoshie?"

She grabbed her ice cream, and sat down in the chair. "He has to come out of there sometime, and I'm _not_ going to leave this spot until he does! He didn't have much at dinner, and turned down dessert! I know him, he's going to get hungry and probably go to the kitchen for a snack and even if it's not to eat, he _has_ to go to the toilet or washroom at some point!"

Mr. Izumi walked over to his wife, and knelt down, giving her a gentle hug from behind. "I think we should go out for a walk…to help cool you off."

"I'd rather not!" She got out of his grasp. "I am _not_ leaving this spot until Koushirou comes from out of that room!"

"But-"

"You can go if you want, but I'm staying." Mr. Izumi noticed that his 'beloved wife' was growing crankier and more irritable by the second. "And while you _are_ out, I want some more ice cream! The flavors I want more of are: yakiimo ice, toumorokoku ice, unagi ice, ika ice, tako ice, and kani ice!"

'K-k-kani ice? This isn't Hokkaido!'

"I have a taste for those, now go get them, please."

Not wanting to annoy his wife more than what she already was, he agreed to go out and find her the varying ice cream flavors she'd demanded. He also hoped that she wouldn't do anything foolish while he was gone.

'First she seemed helpless, feeble, and upset, now she's angrier than Koushirou's school vice principal when he crashed all of the computer lab's computers when trying to upload multiple files at the same time to the school's server for his Computer Club. I do _not _remember her mood fluctuating like this with her first pregnancy, but I _do_ know she's okay. She craved seafood more than usual when pregnant before, as well as sweets and ice creams.'

He put on his coat, but called back to her hopefully. "You can come along with me if you'd like."

"No, you can go ahead. I'm going to stay here until our _son_ leaves his room! What do you _not_ understand about that!"

"I'm sorry, what could I have been thinking," he muttered under his breath incredulously. "Okay, I'm going now."

'I'm going to talk to him before this night is out, whether he wants to or not! The truth _has_ to come out!'

x x x x

Headed over to Odaiba Junior High School, a dark figure with red hair was biking down the street. It was the one, and only, Koushirou.

It was very dark now, and Koushirou had figured that his school would have been closed by now since there were no clubs meeting that late for the week, but he didn't really care. He had to find his article before he even _considered_ going to see Mimi, even though he had mixed feelings over whether he wanted to face her or not. The article's information was just too important to him, even if he _hadn't_ read the entire thing yet. Another thing on his agenda was to drop by Miyako's to apologize if he had the chance to or if time allowed it. He realized how rude he must have come across to her.

Koushirou figured that all he would have to do was to go down to the student computer lab and look for his article. He was pretty much retracing his steps and realized that the computer lab was the last place he'd seen it, right before he acted stupid around Mimi after she had shared her exciting news with him. He was hoping beyond hope that no one had come across it and tossed it in the trash. Since the Computer Club wasn't meeting all week, the room had very little traffic and the room was cleaned prior to when he went in there for lunch.

Right now, he was trying to figure out a way to get onto the school grounds. He hadn't come up with a plan for that yet.

After he put his bike aside, he stopped to think for a moment, his back leaned against the doors of the gate that surrounded the school. The next thing Koushirou knew, he was lying flat on his back on the school grounds. The gate wasn't locked. Koushirou stood up to brush himself off, and then smiled triumphantly. 'This must be my lucky day. Whoever was responsible for locking up didn't do so properly."

When he got to the main entrance that the teachers used, just like he expected, they were locked. Luckily, the boy had come prepared and dug through his jacket pocket. "This should work…" He pulled a small, shiny silver object from his pocket, and an almost sneaky look came to his face. For some unusual reason, he actually had a key to the school. 'I knew that having a copy of the school's main door key would come in handy someday.'

*He always kept one. Usually he was viewed as a very trustworthy student, and was trusted enough to hold keys for the teachers at times. Whenever they forgot to get them back from him, he would go and make a copy. The only key he'd never managed to get were the gate's keys. Originally, he'd done that in case the key was ever lost, but it had never actually come up before. It was like that time when all of his friends had gone to the Digital World using the school's computers to do so, and he was just waiting there when they all returned. He used a key then.

After he found the correct key, he unlocked the door, and closed it behind him. He stepped out of his shoes, and put on a pair of the slippers that school guests would use. He navigated the dark hallway carefully, trying to find the student computer lab. He _knew_ that door would be locked, and he had a key for that since he was head of the Computer Club.

It was difficult, but he finally managed to find the correct room. He was going through his pocket, to find the correct key. He actually had six keys on him: his house key, his bike key, the copy of Odaiba Junior High's key, Odaiba Elementary School's key, and the Student Computer Lab key for OJH, and the one for OE. After he had tried all of them, he managed to find the one to the computer lab. He walked in slowly and flipped on the switch, probably his first major mistake. Someone had seen the light, and had run off to get help instead of inspecting the scene.

Koushirou had searched around for the article for a while, which he knew he had left in there. He checked beside each computer and underneath each desk, just to come up empty handed. Realizing that it had to have been long gone, he sighed and gave up.

He wondered if he'd slipped it into his shoe locker, and was hoping that he actually had without realizing it. When he stood up, he heard someone shout out, "Stop!"

The boy turned around slowly to see a guard and a man standing at the door of the classroom.

"You're under arrest for trespassing and attempted robbery!" the guard shouted.

"_What_!"

Author's Notes

Note 1: Just thought I'd let you all know what all the ice cream flavors are…

Yakiimo Aisu: Roasted Sweet Potato Ice Cream

Toumorokoku Aisu: Corn Ice Cream

Unagi Aisu: Eel Ice Cream

Ika Aisu: Squid Ice Cream

Tako Aisu: Octopus Ice Cream

Kani Aisu: Crab Ice Cream

For the record, these flavors _do_ exist in Japan. There are some more "out there" flavors that probably would be "out there" to us, like Wasabi Ice Cream and Shrimp Ice Cream, etc. No thank you! I prefer my ice cream sweet or tangy. lol I'd give the Toumorokoku Ice Cream a try, out of that list, or the Yakiimo Ice Cream.

x x x

Note 3: Okay, I know; unbelievable, right? Well, I got the idea to use this scenario because of the episode in Digimon Adventure 02, where Hikari ended up stuck in the Digital World and Daisuke and Takeru went back to try and rescue her while Iori and Miyako got snacks and also informed Taichi and Yamato of what was going on. That was also the episode where Yamato was forced to accept a date with Jun (Daisuke's sister) and where "Matt" had to hurry back because he left "Mimi on the phone". *Sighs*. I hate dub additions like that. For the original, Yamato was in a hurry to get back because he had to cook dinner for his father. Yamato's actually a good cook, which Takeru compliments and references. It was also shown that he was a good cook back in Adventure when he was working at the diner to help out Jou...well, to me he came across as being a decent cook.

Anyway, Taichi went to the Digital World with Miyako and Iori to help rescue Hikari. When they got back, Koushirou was sitting there waiting for them, disgruntled and upset.

For the dub, "Izzy" was upset with them because no one had informed him on what had happened with "Kari" and how "Tai" knew and how "Matt" knew, etc. He came across as a whiner to me for that. For the original, he was upset with them for going to the Digital World without someone staying back to monitor the computer because a teacher or anyone could have come in and seen the gate up there or either shut the computer off, stranding them in the Digital World.

When originally writing this, I'd forgotten all about how he was just there waiting...in the dark. I like the idea of his having a key for his own personal use because it's a bit nicer than his just sneaking in, as well as breaking and entering. I mean, they'd have to lock up everything eventually, right? lol

Adding on, students do have access to the keys in the building, but, they're usually in the Teacher's Room. Remember, the students don't change classes, the teachers do. The teachers have their own room for such things. The students can go in and ask for the keys for whatever purpose they need it for. It could be to get into a storage area or maybe open up a classroom door for a club meeting, etc. Realistically, I could've had that Koushirou snuck into the school, went to the Teacher's Room, and swiped the key to the Computer Lab…but that has me wondering about how he managed to use it for movie 4 at Odaiba Junior High. He had to get in somehow and as far as I know, the room was supposed to have been closed off. Sneaky sneaky Koushirou-kun! lol

x x x

Fic Chapter Changes

I did originally have the family eating fried chicken (as that was the only thing I could think of at the time), but I specified where it came from this time. Yes, there are Kentucky Fried Chicken places in Japan and the "sides" mentioned, are served there, just like in the US and other places.

Okay, time for the ice cream flavors. Originally, I had that she wanted vanilla ice cream, chocolate chip ice cream, and butter pecan ice cream along with nuts, sprinkles, whipped cream, and "every other ice cream topping you can find". As you saw, I just changed it to more "out there" flavors to the American palette instead. To be completely honest, though, I've never seen those flavors of ice cream, not that I've noticed, in the supermarket. Hagen Daaz suited me just fine.


	21. 21 Under Arrest

Hi again everyone. Okay, there isn't anything I can really say about this. You can make your own assumptions as to what's going to happen based on the title of this chapter, but I will admit this. Writing this one was terribly fun, and as a result, the majority of everything in this chapter is false. For instance, there'll be a security guard in here with a gun. That's not common for the place he's guarding in Japan. The association mentioned is also a fake place made up on the spur of the moment.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 21: "You are under arrest!" Koushirou the Criminal! 

Koushirou had searched around for the article for a while, which he knew he had left in there. He checked beside each computer and underneath each desk, just to come up empty handed. Realizing that it had to have been long gone, he sighed and gave up.

He wondered if he'd slipped it into his shoe locker, and was hoping that he actually had without realizing it. When he stood up, he heard someone shout out, "Stop!"

The boy turned around slowly to see a guard and a man standing at the door of the classroom.

"You're under arrest for trespassing and attempted robbery!" the guard shouted.

"_What_!"

"Or is that attempted trespassing and high robbery," the freckly guard asked in confusion.

The guard looked to be quite young to be holding such a position, where he actually had to come across as threatening. He had a face filled with pimples, his voice cracked in such a way that it was harmful on the ears, like he had yet to reach puberty, he was twig-like skinny, and looked to _maybe_ be university aged.

'Wait, since when do schools here in Japan have security guards?' Koushirou wondered in thought.

"N-now don't you go anyplace!" his voice cracked. "You're under arrest!"

The man wearing the brown suit beside the guard, sweat dropped at the scene. 'What an idiot!'

"Hold on now! I just have to find my handcuffs…" He dug through his pocket, pulling all the contents he had within them out, which consisted of: pens, candy wrappers, pencils, and other useless items. "Don't you move now," he warned again, "I have you surrounded!"

Koushirou couldn't believe what he was witnessing. He didn't even know if he should take the man seriously or not, but when the guard pulled out a gun, he started to panic. He threw his arms up into the air, and started to speak very nervously.

"Nosirit'!"

"Sure, that's what they _all_ say!" He shook the gun at the redhead. "Move it along, pal."

Koushirou continued to plea with the guard, requesting that he have the opportunity to prove his innocence, but the guard didn't buy his story, and resumed shaking the gun at him. Koushirou felt his heart stop as he saw what happened next. The guard accidentally pulled the trigger. The young redheaded boy opened his eyes, as he'd instinctively closed them when it had gone off. He was wondering why he wasn't in any pain or why nothing seemed to happen. He then saw the look of the man beside the guard, and then looked from him to the guard with the gun.

"What kind of a guard _are_ you?" the man shouted. "That's a toy gun!"

"Oops, I was playing with my younger brother, and we always have water gun fights. He's about to turn eight soon, and I guess I took his gun by mistake."

"How in the world did you even _get_ this job?"

Koushirou had been wondering the same exact thing.

"My uncle got me this job," the boy smiled proudly, his voice cracking more than what it had earlier. "He's head of the Odaiba Night Officers Association."

"Why me," the man groaned in disbelief.

"Ooh! I found my handcuffs! I had them hanging on my wrist the entire time. Silly me!"

"Oh-kay," Koushirou sweat dropped.

"Now, let's get these cuffs on you, _thief_!"

"Why won't you listen to me? You didn't even read me my rights or anything! I _know_ I probably have some!" In all honesty, Koushirou wasn't sure if he had any or not. This was one subject he wasn't very knowledgeable of, aside from their law system being pretty strict. He figured that someone like Iori would've been more knowledgeable on such a thing, given that he was a stickler for the rules, and that he'd grown up with his grandfather, who was a former cop himself.

"I don't _have_ to do anything like that! Besides, I can't remember all that stuff without my book!"

"Why am I not surprised?" both Koushirou and the man muttered in unison.

"You are breaking and entering; that's all I _need_ to know!"

Right at the moment, some more people stormed into the school, where Koushirou was. It was the _real_ police force, and their guns _were_ real, and drawn.

"Thank goodness," the man breathed out in relief. "Some _real_ police."

He looked over at the guard, who had just tripped over his untied shoelaces while trying to cuff Koushirou, which didn't serve any purpose; he actually ended up handcuffing himself to the computer chair that was right behind Koushirou when he'd tripped and fallen.

"Pathetic…"

'I'm glad that this person isn't a real officer of the law,' blinked Koushirou.

"Freeze!" the first cop shouted.

"Don't try anything funny!" the third cop ordered.

"This is the LCPD! You are risking your life! If you do not stop, we will open fire!" the second cop said in English.

Everyone in the room gave the cop a look, wondering what he was going on about, with the exception of Koushirou, since he was somewhat terrified for a moment, from the "open fire" statement. His English may have been limited, but Koushirou knew what that term meant. The cop gave them a nervous smile, and went back to speaking Japanese.

"I'm sorry. I imported the old game Grand Theft Auto III lately since the game Grand Theft Auto Vice City hasn't been released yet."

"Anyway, don't try anything foolish like running away," the first cop warned.

"Please, I can explain why I'm here! I'm still trying to figure out why there was a security guard here, since it's uncommon for schools to have them!"

"There has been some vandalism going on lately in this particular district, as well as robberies. Not much is usually taken, but the thieves in question always seem to go for the computer equipment. A security guard was assigned here just in case to prevent it from happening," the first cop explained. "We have now caught our man…er, boy!"

"I am telling you that I am _not_ the person you're looking for! I am a student of this school!"

"Sir," the first officer began, turning to the man that Koushirou had never seen before, "any comments?"

"I've never actually met him before, but I'm pretty new still."

"Hm, what would a child like you be doing here anyway?" the third cop asked.

"Let's just book him, and take him down to the station!" said the second cop, anxious to make an arrest.

"Yes, maybe that would work best," the man agreed. "Maybe that way, you'll be able to get to the bottom of this."

"No, please, don't put me in jail!" Koushirou pleaded. He knew how they could, legally, hold him for a long time without even charging him.

"Um…a little help here…" the guard waved, trying to get some attention. No one paid him any mind, nor did anyone notice him.

"Please explain why you are here," the first officer demanded.

"Do you _have_ to hold those guns so close to me?" the redhead asked nervously, his arms growing sore from keeping them up for so long.

"Men, withdraw your weapons," the first officer instructed. The other two followed suit, and returned the weapons to their holsters. "Okay, now explain."

Koushirou visibly relaxed, and put his arms down. He then explained how he was looking for something he'd dropped for his class project. He was even allowed to boot up one of the computers to show them the school's webpage – which his club worked on – and proved that he was, indeed, a student of the school, as well as the Computer Club President. His photo was there, and beside his photo was Miyako, since the two of them ran it. He even took out his student card and showed it to the first officer.

"I guess his story checks out, and it's actually logical," the second cop said almost regrettably. "If he was going to rob the place, he wouldn't have left his shoes at the school's entrance."

The man, who was actually the new school secretary, asked, "How did he get into the school?"

"Um, the doors were open?" he answered in question, his face going partially read from nervousness.

"Does your family know that you're here?" asked the first cop.

"Um, yes, of course…"

Neither of the adults in the room actually believed him. All doubted that any parent would allow his or her child out to literally break into a closed off building. It was against the rules for all students to be on school grounds after hours.

"We're going to let you go, but we don't want to ever catch you here after hours again without permission," the third cop told him firmly.

"Yes sir!"

"You could have been hurt by us," the first cop said.

"I promise to never do something like that again!" He bowed deeply and apologized. "Hontou ni sumimasen."

"That's very nice. Now, we will escort you home, Mr. Izumi."

Koushirou's eyes went wide at that. There was no _way_ he was going to let them escort him home. He would _really_ get it from his parents if they did so. "No, that's not necessary. I would hate to burden you with such a task."

"Actually, it is our responsibility to if we apprehend a child in an area where a curfew is in place. This school, in its rule book, actually has one. I'm not sure how often it is enforced, but we would like to make sure that the child gets home safely."

'I forgot this school had a curfew! It's not like anyone follows it! We wouldn't have gone out for karaoke if any of us cared!' Koushirou shook his head, and told the first officer, "But I rode my bike here, and I really should get it back, and-"

"Nonsense," the third cop interrupted, "we will put it in the trunk of our squad car. Come on, let's get going."

"Thinking about it, I don't feel I've really learned by lesson, and feel that jail would be much better than your taking me back home, and-"

"Let's go!" the second cop impatiently roared.

Koushirou frowned. "Yes, sir…"

The three officers escorted Koushirou out, but before leaving, they told the school secretary to lock up more carefully, and promised to do so when he left. He was actually there because he'd forgotten something in the teacher's room. He was on his way out of the school, when he saw the light switch on in the computer lab, which prompted him to go and get the bumbling security guard. The secretary turned off the lights and locked the door to the lab.

"Hey! I'm in here…don't forget about me!" the guard shouted out in an annoyingly, squeaky-pitched voice. Once again, nobody noticed.

Koushirou led the police officers to his bike, his shoulders drooped. He unlocked it as they loaded it into the squad car. He felt nothing but dread, and would rather have had them toss him in jail than to face his disappointed parents' faces, especially his mother's. He realized that by his sneaking out, he hadn't accomplished anything. The only thing he'd accomplished was getting himself into more trouble…

x x x x

After their dinner, Mimi headed back to her room to make some more return calls, but Miyako was the top priority on her list. She hadn't spoken with her in a while, and knew that Miyako was really interested in knowing how the project was going. She _had_ promised to share that, after all.

It was nearly 20:30 (8:30) when she phoned the Inoue home since she couldn't get the girl through her mobile.

"Hi there, Mrs. Inoue."

"Hi there, Mimi-chan. How are you?"

"I'm fine, is Miyako-chan around?"

"My husband just left a while ago to relieve her of duty. She should be headed back up any moment now."

"Relieve her of duty?"

"She volunteered to watch the mart."

Right at that moment, a disgruntled Miyako entered the Inoue home. She didn't want to stop working and still wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

"Ah, here's Miyako now! She just came in. I'll get her." With that, the woman held her hand over the receiver of the phone, and called her youngest child. Miyako made her way over to her, and noticed she was holding the phone.

"Phone call for you."

She handed it to her. "I don't really feel like talking right now," she told her mother sullenly. "I want to go back to help out in the store."

"You know you're still kind of young to be there at this time. I know how much you want to prove your independence to us, and how you can be adult like, but one part of being an adult and showing a sign of maturity is knowing when to quit and knowing what your limitations are. A girl your age has no business working in a store, by herself, after a certain hour because you have school tomorrow."

She sighed in defeat, as she knew her mother was right. "Yes ma'am."

"Answer the phone."

"Who is it?" Miyako asked curiously while taking the phone from her mother. 'I wonder if it's Izumi-senpai calling back.'

"Mimi-chan." She smiled to her. "I'm sure that'll cheer you up some. You're always happy to talk with Mimi-chan."

Miyako nodded slightly, as she gave her mother a half smile. She wasn't sure if a phone call from Mimi at this particular moment would cheer her up or not. Now if it had been Hikari or Sora or any of her other friends from school, she was positive it would have.

"Hi there, Mimi-oneesama," Miyako greeted as enthusiastically as she could.

"Hi Miyako-chan! I'm glad that I finally managed to catch you. I really wanted to talk to you."

"What about?" Mimi couldn't help but laugh at the girl's question. "What?"

"Are you _serious_? What have you been asking me about a lot lately?" Miyako remained quiet. It was like her mind had gone blank, due to the fact that she wasn't in the mood for guessing games. "Koushirou-kun of course! I _did_ promise both you and Sora-san that I would keep you up-to-date with all that we're going through. Sora-san knows more than you do now, though, so I figured I should fill you in."

"So, what's going on with him?"

The girl felt something wasn't quite right with her younger friend. Her tone sounded somewhat distant. "Before I get into that, how about telling me what's going on with you?"

"Wh-what are you talking about? I'm doing okay. There's nothing wrong."

"Don't lie, Miyako-chan! You sound like you're down about something. Please tell me what it is. That's more important."

"Honest, I'm fine," the girl insisted. "I've been a little stressed from all this extra testing we've been doing lately." Mimi didn't believe her. She didn't sound sincere, but she also realized that the girl wasn't going to share whatever it was that was bothering her, not at that moment, anyway, and felt she should just respect that. "Did you get in touch with Izumi-senpai yet?"

"What do you mean?"

"He called asking if I'd seen you."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"Not really," she sighed. "He didn't say, just that it was important for him to talk to you."

"That just doesn't make any sense! Why would he go out of his way to try and find me and then not be around when I call him?"

"Who knows? So, why _did_ you call?"

"Well, I was hoping to just chat with you for a while and update you on all that's going on, like I said earlier."

"I _would_, but I'm a bit tired from being down in the store."

"I understand. I'll talk to you later; maybe at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, maybe…"

"Well, see you. I hope to talk to you again soon."

"R-right. Bye bye."

Miyako hanged up the phone, her frown growing more. Talking to Mimi was definitely a mistake. She found herself growing more and more jealous of her, even though she didn't fully realize it. The current ill feelings she had towards Mimi, was making her feel like a bad friend.

"That was fast," Mrs. Inoue noted as she saw Miyako heading to her room. "What did you two talk about for such a short time?"

"Nothing much. She was just asking about a shirt she lent me. She wanted to know if she could get it back."

"Guess that wouldn't take up much time."

"I'm going to take a bath and go to bed."

"But you didn't have any dinner."

"I had some snacks down in the store."

"Miyako, what did your father and I tell you about taking snacks and drinks from the store?"

"Not to do it."

"Exactly, and whatever you took is going to come from out of your pay. What did you have?"

"A juice pack and a small bag of chips."

"That's not much. You have to eat something else besides that. Go sit at the table and I'll go fix you a plate."

"Yes, ma'am."

After she had forced down her meal, she headed to her room, which she shared with Chizuru, and shut the door. Chizuru was still up with Momoe watching television and talking about music groups. Miyako just sat in the room and shed tears, wishing she had Poromon by her side to share her anguished feelings with. She didn't understand what was wrong with her and how, right now, she disliked both Koushirou _and_ Mimi, but not as much as she did Koushirou…

x x x x

It took him a while, but Mr. Izumi had finally made it back to the not so perfect home of his with all of the ice cream she had requested, minus the kani ice. He just couldn't find it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to enter the apartment or not. The walk was a peaceful one and it was nice _not_ hearing his wife argue or having to put up with her irritable moods. He had a very strong feeling that his wife was going to be doing just that once he walked in the door.

The man braced himself. "Well, here goes nothing..."

He opened the front door. He didn't hear any arguing, much to his relief, and figured that all was okay on the front. "Yoshie, Koushirou, I'm home." He closed the front door and stepped out of his shoes. He went to where his wife was, and saw that she'd moved the chair back to the dining room table. He figured that she'd grown uncomfortable just sitting in a chair in the hall. She was sound asleep, her head resting on the tabletop.

'I guess all of the waiting around tired her out. I'm actually glad that she is. Since this stuff with Koushirou, she hasn't been herself.'

Mr. Izumi headed to the kitchen and put all of the ice cream away. After he had done so, he went back to check on his wife, who was still sleeping soundly. He gently shook her. "Yoshie…"

The woman moaned a bit, and sat up. She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, and stretched her arms. As her vision cleared, she saw that of her husband. "Hello, dear," she yawned.

"I'm surprised you're still here. Want to go to bed? You could probably use some rest."

She was about to take the man up on his offer, until she recalled why she had been sitting there to begin with. "No, I'll stay here. I still haven't gotten the chance to talk with Koushirou yet."

"Dear, why don't we just speak with him in the morning?"

"Because I wanted to talk to him _before_ then."

"You know that rest is good for those in your condition, and it's good for the growing child. You should really rest."

"Maybe you _are_ right," she said while trying to hold back another yawn. Mr. Izumi was glad that she was being so reasonable. "This can wait until the morning or until after school. I wouldn't want him to go to school unable to concentrate."

He nodded and smiled gratefully to her. "I'm glad that you're seeing things my way."

The two started to head to their room, until they heard the doorbell chime. "I wonder who that could be."

Mr. Izumi shrugged, as the both of them went to answer it. "Who's there?"

"Officer Touchika of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, sir."

"The police? I wonder why they would be here," Mrs. Izumi said.

"We have your son…"

"_What_!"

Mr. Izumi opened the door and sure enough, there stood a semi-tall soon to be 15-year-old boy with a goofy, nervous grin on his face, a police officer standing right behind him.

"_Kou_shirou!" Mrs. Izumi gasped.

"Um…hi? Hehehe…" the boy sweat dropped fearfully.

Fic Chapter Changes

First change - and maybe one of the only ones - is that I changed the role of the man who saw Koushirou turn on the light in the computer lab. Originally, I had that he was a night janitor, but in Japan, the schools don't have janitors (unless it's probably a ritzy private school), as the students are the ones to keep the schools clean, hence the role change. It took me a while to come up with this, though. I wanted to use someone who _wouldn't_ know Koushirou all that well or either hadn't seen him yet, and a janitor would have been perfect, but I guess school secretary works okay too.

Thought I only had one change, but seems I had two. The other change was Mrs. Izumi's temperament. It was milder after Mr. Izumi's return with all of the different flavors of ice cream. I still kept her short patient and slightly irritable originally.


	22. 22  Big Argument!

Hi again everyone. Here we go, another chapter for you. Koushirou's _really _in trouble now. Can't help but wonder where this will go. Anyway, no other characters appear in this chapter, except for the Izumis and nosy, gossipy neighbors. I also hope that Mrs. Izumi was portrayed in a realistic manner for this chapter. Oh, and no chapter changes and no author's notes. Yay! lol There are only grammar and spelling corrections, mostly, and some rewording to help make it a bit more dramatic and more emotional from both sides (Koushirou and Mrs. Izumi).

Hm, that aside, for the record, I always liked the idea of Koushirou ending up in awkward situations, hence how he's being written for this story. I also like Jou portrayed in the same manner.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 22: "I am no longer an Izumi!" Koushirou's Resignation! 

The two started to head to their room, until they heard the doorbell chime. "I wonder who that could be."

Mr. Izumi shrugged, as the both of them went to answer it. "Who's there?"

"Officer Touchika of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, sir."

"The police? I wonder why they would be here," Mrs. Izumi said.

"We have your son…"

"_What_!"

Mr. Izumi opened the door and sure enough, there stood a semi-tall soon to be 15-year-old boy with a goofy, nervous grin on his face, a police officer standing right behind him.

"_Kou_shirou!" Mrs. Izumi gasped.

"Um…hi? Hehehe…" the boy sweat dropped fearfully.

The two adults looked incredibly shocked. Their only child was being escorted by police authorities. They imagined that something like that could _never_ happen to _their_ child, because he never really caused any trouble.

Of course, nearby neighbors of the Izumis, saw the flashing lights outside, and were nosing around. They were also surprised to see an officer standing at the door of the Izumis with Koushirou, as if he'd just been let out of police custody.

x x x x

"Usa-san, look out the window over at the Izumi place," a neighbor of theirs told another over the phone.

"Oh my goodness, Yori-san! Is that a police officer at their home?" Usa asked in surprise.

"Yes, I can't believe it!" Yori stated in amazement. "Their son is being brought home by a police officer! I saw them bring him up from the car!"

"Ah, hold on. I have another call." The woman changed over to the other line. It was another neighbor of hers and she was passing along the news. "Yes, I know, Mako-san!"

"It's a shock! The Izumi family is supposed to be perfect! What could have happened?"

Usa beeped Mako in. "Oh, you're back!" Yori said. "There has been a little bit of arguing going on over there, I heard, and Yoshie-san wasn't her usual, outgoing self the last time we went marketing together."

"Very strange," said Mako. "Oh wait, I have another call." She checked to see who it was, who was also going on about the sight outside. "Yes, I now, Mina-san! We are all shocked!"

"What could her son have done?"

"I'm going to try and talk with Yoshie-san in the morning when we go marketing together," Mako decided. "We always go on Thursdays."

"I usually run out of cooking ingredients by Friday, but I'll make an exception this time and join you!"

More and more gossipy housewives of the apartment complex, which consisted of a good amount, continued to network and call one another, going on about seeing the Izumis' son being brought home by an officer.

x x x x

Mrs. Izumi didn't look at the boy, and asked with almost no emotion, "What was he doing?"

"We caught your son at Odaiba Junior High School. He was lucky that he wasn't harmed by us. As some of you know, there had been a minor string of vandalism in the schools of his district, and we mistakenly thought your son was one of the culprits since he was in the school's computer lab. Not to worry, though. His story checked out and everything is okay."

Mr. Izumi bowed as Koushirou entered the home. "Thank you very much for bringing our son home safely and for any trouble he may have caused."

"Y-yes, thank you very much," Mrs. Izumi added resolutely, also bowing.

"It's no problem, and he was very cooperative, so he caused no trouble. It was our job to make sure he was returned home okay. We also put his bike back for him, as he showed us where it was to be kept." He tipped his hat to them, with a slight nod. "G'night sir, madam…"

'I don't sense anything _good_ about this night,' Koushirou thought dreadfully.

After the police officer had gone, a couple of exasperated parents looked at their son.

'Maybe Officer Touchika will arrest me if I chase him down with my bike, and purposely cause a ruckus to get me on a disturbing the peace charge, or maybe lie and say I'm an undercover Yakuza member who let his guard down and was 'scoping out the place'. _Any_thing would be better than staying here with these two right now. They have to feel terrible!' He saw the looks on his parents' faces and sighed. 'I've disappointed and shamed them again.'

Mr. Izumi was about to say something, but Mrs. Izumi didn't give him the chance to.

"Please, don't say _any_thing right now, young man!" Mrs. Izumi argued heatedly. "You have a lot of explaining to do! I want you to tell me _what_ exactly was going through your head when you broke into your own school!"

"I-I needed my English textbook. I left it in-"

"_More_ lies? When are you going to stop lying to us? I know you wouldn't take such a big risk over something like a textbook. Do you think your father and I are _stu_pid? Do you know how embarrassing it was to see _my_ son brought home for committing a crime? You're lucky that you weren't charged with anything. You could have been hurt! My son would never do something so, so…so…_stu_pid and inconsiderate! _What_ were you thinking?"

Koushirou lowered his head, avoiding his mother's piercing gaze. She was angry, something he'd never experienced with her before. He really couldn't answer the question, as he hadn't even thought ahead to any problems that might have come up for him by sneaking into his school.

"You _weren't_ thinking, and that's not like you! What is _wrong_ with you, Koushirou? How dare you embarrass our family! What will our neighbors think? I know Mina-san probably saw you. She's this building's gossip! I won't be able to face anybody now because of you, Koushirou! First you lie and now you're breaking into places! What are you going to do next, _steal_?"

"I'm sorry," he apologized quietly, as he just stood there, taking the verbal lashing. He felt somewhat deserving of it.

"How do I know that you aren't lying now? I don't even want to _look_ at you right now! You are _not_ my son; you are some clone of him! My son would _never_ do the things you've been doing lately!"

Mr. Izumi, who had been quiet the entire time, felt it was time to intervene. The woman was speaking pretty harshly and was being very hard on Koushirou, but given her mood, he felt that it was somewhat understandable. She was just stressed over all that had happened.

"Koushirou, are you keeping secrets because of your friend, Mimi?" he asked quietly.

He jerked his head towards his father, and grew defensive. "What does Mimi-san have to do with anything? She hasn't done _any_thing!"

"Then why are you keeping secrets from your mother and me? I really feel that we should talk about whatever the problem is that you're having, unless you don't have anything to say to us."

He lowered his head again, and muttered out, "No." The man sighed as he looked at his only son. He was really hoping that Koushirou would open up and get whatever it was that was bothering him out in the open, but he still kept his composure since his wife was being purely emotional.

"I think you should go to your room, now, while your mother and I discuss what should be done."

"Oh yes, that reminds me," the woman started up again angrily, "I want to know _how_ you managed to leave without our seeing! I want you to unlock your door _right_ now! Your secret keeping days are now over! Until you can prove that you are my son again and earn my trust again, you can forget about keeping a lock on it! You will also be banned from using the phone, and your computers will be taken away as well!"

Mr. Izumi frowned at his wife. He wanted to get Koushirou out of there as soon as possible before his wife said any other things she would probably regret after she cooled down.

Koushirou, at this point, had grown annoyed over his mother's yelling at him, as if everything was entirely his fault. He knew that it was his, partially, but it was his parents' secret that had driven him to learn more about himself to begin with. He did something that not only surprised himself, but his parents as well. He argued back, worse than he had when he was first punished. He also said some things that he knew – not in his current state, though – that he would regret ever saying later.

"It wouldn't bother me too much if you disowned me as your son! Maybe if you two hope enough, you'll have yourselves a son of your own to make up for the disappointment and embarrassment I am to you!"

"Koushirou, stop talking like that!" his mother ordered.

He ignored the command, and kept going, spilling out all that he had felt. He was upset that his mother had pretty much admitted to wanting to disown him, the one person he could usually always turn to for guidance, understanding, and love, hated him in his eyes. He felt incredibly unwanted by her.

"When you have your _new_ son, he can take the room that I'm staying in, seeing as how I do not plan on staying here for much longer anyway. I know you two are growing tired of my actions and lies, but I've grown tired of yours. I, apparently, picked up on that trait from you two. For all of my life, I've had two liars raising me."

Both of his parents were left almost speechless. The tone Koushirou had used with them seemed to be laced with partial resentment and malice. He had even _insulted_ them.

"What are you talking about? How dare you accuse your mother and me of being liars! We do _not_ keep secrets from you!"

"See, you're lying to me right now! You two have been lying to me for years. As soon as you stop keeping secrets from me, I'll start sharing with you what I've been up to. I lost my trust in you _years_ ago!"

That hit the couple hard. They could tell that Koushirou was coming across very seriously, and neither knew how to fully react.

"I have to go now. I'll probably have to go find a newer place to live. Fortunately, I've always saved up my money, just in case of an emergency situation. I did want to go out on my own early in life, like when I started high school due to where I wanted to go, and how the schools I had in mind would be away from Odaiba, but I guess now is as good a time as any thanks to this conversation," he told them in a disturbingly calm manner. "At least now I know I won't have any regrets, and you will have room for your new child."

The boy headed back to the front door, muttering things under his breath. Mrs. Izumi looked as if she were about to cry, but that soon turned to fury. Right now, all of her emotions were out of balance. She felt like crying, was angry, was furious enough to actually want to _smack_ Koushirou for his selfishness, and sad all at the same time. Mr. Izumi was just at a loss for words. He felt useless in this situation since he still couldn't figure out how to approach his son.

"Izumi Koushirou, if you go out that door, then it is true that you are _not_ my son!" Mrs. Izumi threatened. "_My_ Koushirou wouldn't do something so rash!"

Koushirou kept his back to them, and coldly told them, while holding back tears, "Even if I _don't_ walk out of this door, I still wouldn't be your son!" With that, he slammed the door behind him.

"Koushirou?" Mrs. Izumi's eyes started to water. Reality had finally hit her, and she was going fully into her sad state. Mr. Izumi knew that when she was pregnant before, that she did tend to get emotional at times, but it was a rarity for her to actually get angry. "What did I just do to Koushirou? I made him go away!" she howled.

Mr. Izumi held his wife in his arms, while she cried into his shoulder, muttering, "What did I do?" over and over again. She broke away from him, slightly panicked. "Masami-san! We have to bring him back! Who will prepare his meals and lunches just the way he likes them? Who will do his laundry? Who will make his favorite-style onigiri for him? He always likes the strangest fillings for them."

Before the man could even remotely respond to his wife's hysterics, they heard a lock click. The sound had come from Koushirou's bedroom door. The two looked to see Koushirou walking out of his room, holding a few items, like his mobile phone for one. He would have used it after he'd left to head to his school, but, he'd actually forgotten and left it behind. The battery was also very low. It had actually started ringing at that moment, but cut right off.

"I promise you that I will find a way of getting out of here by sometime tomorrow. I'm sure that it will make you happy. I shall be a nuisance to you no more. I quit as your son."

"Koushirou, stop being ridiculous! You are _not_ a nuisance to us, and you are not going anyplace except for bed, which I feel would be a good idea as of the moment."

No one objected to his suggestion, and did as he said. Koushirou headed to his room and shut the door behind him, but didn't lock it this time. Mr. and Mrs. Izumi headed to their room so that they could talk about all that had just happened. All of them had said things that they didn't mean. Mrs. Izumi definitely didn't mean to make Koushirou feel unwanted or abandoned. She had responded so negatively because it felt as if her perfect family was breaking apart, and that it was her son's fault. The only son she had had the honor of being blessed with after losing her own.

Mr. Izumi was still pretty stoic over the entire situation and didn't know what to fully think. He just knew that he and his wife needed to discuss the situation.

"Where did we go wrong? When did we lose him? When did he change in the way that he has?" asked Mrs. Izumi quietly.

"What is he keeping from us and why? Why does he feel that we are 'liars'? What have we ever done for him to feel that way?"

Mrs. Izumi was now quietly sobbing. "I wish we knew. We've always been open and honest with him."

"Don't worry, Yoshie, we'll figure something out. We're just lost because we've never encountered this before."

'Have we grown apart from Koushirou _that_ much?'

She looked even sadder, just as her husband did. They were so upset over the situation that neither had even thought to ask Koushirou _how_ he had managed to get back into his locked room.

'What was I thinking saying all of those things? I'm so sorry, Koushirou! I'm _so_ sorry!' she cried.

x x x x

Koushirou was laid out on his nicely made bed, staring up at the ceiling. He was still a bit sore over what his mother had said, and was tired of them trying to get information out of him. It was like they couldn't understand that some things were better left alone. He would _never_ say such things to the two people who took him in and raised him, but deep down, he knew that they weren't bad people.

'I can't wait until I can get out of here,' he muttered in thought angrily. 'I was going to wait another year, but I guess I have no choice but to leave now.'

His decision made, he punched his pillow, not caring that he was still in his regular clothes, and went to sleep…


	23. 23 Case of the Disappearing Redhead

Hi again everyone. It's summer for me too, hence the quick chapter update and I hope that for those who celebrated it, had a nice Independence Day yesterday. Anywho, tempers flew and feelings were hurt. Like I said last chapter, I hope it was realistically done and didn't come across as _too _out of character. Also, I'm going to apologize for dragging this story out, as ideas kept coming to me, so I guess one could call it a "Fan-Novel". lol Oh yeah, if you're wondering how Koushirou snuck out – and people who originally reviewed this asked – he did so by going through his window.

Let's see, this chapter is a bit long. I apologize for this. Pretty much all of the characters show up for it, and that includes the younger Chosen Children (Digidestined), minus Ken, since, for this fic's continuity, he still goes to Tamachi Elementary School. Ken is the only one of them that didn't live _in_ Odaiba. He lives in the Tamachi of Minato-ku, which is still apart of Tokyo and consists of the districts of Mita, Shiba, and Shibaura.

What else can I say? Hm, well, I _am_ considering putting up the sequel to this fic. I had it up years ago after I did originally finish this story, but it was, apparently, taken down because of how the first chapter was written. For anyone who has read my other Digimon fics, you may (or may not) know that I usually wrote the first chapter in script format with the actual Digimon to explain maybe what the readers will anticipate and such. Anyway, since it was taken down, I just never actually went back to it and it was nowhere near remotely finished back then. So yeah, I've been considering going back to it. I'll just definitely have to update some things about it technology wise. For example, I had that the kids played video games, but it was more of a realistic, VR type set up, only incredibly realistic…like say, .hack style. Meh, who knows. The story was supposed to have taken place after the Adventure epilogue and was going to be a crossover fic with the Tamers group. There's an evil Digimon threatening both words…sort of. I'm still sorta planning…or more so replanning. Okay, enough of all this rambling.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 23: Case of the Disappearing Redhead!

Mimi, who had just finished speaking with Yamato, had one more call to make, and that was for Yuuko. She had no idea what her friend could have wanted, but felt she should return her call at least.

When speaking with Yamato, he mentioned that Koushirou had been looking for her. This piqued Mimi's curiosity tremendously. What could the boy have wanted? She tried calling his mobile phone, but it rang a couple of times, and went straight to his voice mail. Something else the two discussed was what they could do after the dance, and how he, Taichi, Sora, and a few others were planning on finding something to do afterwards. She agreed to all of it, of course. It sounded like fun, and she never turned down having fun.

The phone started to ring at the Sasaki household, and was answered quickly. "Hello, Mrs. Sasaki. How are you?"

"Hi there, Mimi-chan! I'm doing quite alright. How about you?"

"I'm doing okay. I'm looking forward to our spring vacation."

"I don't blame you for that. You all have been testing a lot this year."

"Sasaki-san, is Yuuko-chan there? My uncle told me that she called earlier after she couldn't get me through my phone. I wasn't home."

"Yes, she's here. I'll go get her."

The woman put the phone down to go retrieve her somewhat lazy daughter, who was lying around watching television, snacking on chips. She just couldn't understand how the girl could actually manage playing volleyball given the way she carried on. In no time at all, Yuuko picked up the phone.

"Mi-chan, I'm so glad you called," the girl answered, her voice muffled from her mouth being filled with chips.

"Yuuko-chan?"

"Sorry." She guzzled down some of her water. "I'm _so_ glad that you called."

"What's going on?"

"That's what _I _should be asking you!" she replied cunningly.

"What do you mean?"

"I heard about you today," she told her. 'If she knew that Miya-chan and I were spying on her, she'd _kill_ us!'

"Heard what about me?"

"I heard that you were going to the dance on Saturday!"

"Oh that. It really isn't all that big a deal…"

At the moment, it really wasn't, as she found her news for Koushirou more exciting and interesting.

"_No_ big deal? Are you _kid_ding me! You're going to one of the biggest events to be ever held in our school's history and to make it even more exciting, you're going with Ishida-senpai of the Teen-Age Wolves! How can that _not_ be a big deal?"

"I guess I'll never be able to understand what you all see in Yamato-san because, to me, he's just...well...Yamato-san. He's just a very good friend."

"I wish he was _my_ very good friend," the girl stated dreamily.

'I wonder how _good_ a friend she means,' Mimi wondered. "It really _isn't_ all that big of a deal that we're going to a school event together. He probably would have asked someone else to go along with him, like Sora-san, if Taichi-san hadn't asked her earlier, and if not her, probably Chizuru-san. For all _we_ know, he probably would've taken Miyako-chan along."

"You guys are _so_ lucky to know a boy like him!"

"Don't worry. If all goes well for this dance, and we have it next year, I'm sure some nice, handsome boy will ask you, or maybe someone like Seki-kun or _Yuuji_-kun."

"Wh-what!" the girl stuttered, turning beet red. "_Those_ two idiots! I wouldn't accept an invitation to go out with either of them to a place like a dance if you _paid_ me! No way, no how!"

A smug smile spread across Mimi's face. "Whatever you say, Yuuko-chan…"

"So-so where were you this afternoon?" Yuuko asked, wanting to get off the subject. "You ran off right after school."

"I had to work on the project again."

"Oh, homework with Koushirou-kun again. I guess you just met up with him. You left before he did. Anyway, please let me in your secret. How _do_ you do it?"

'Why is she being so formal?' The girl shook her head, and decided to ignore it. "How do I do what?"

"How do you hook two guys who don't act obsessed over you?"

"Yuuko-chan, I can assure you that Yamato-san is only a friend and the same goes for Koushirou."

"Hm, I wouldn't be surprised if they liked you. I'm not sure about Ishida-senpai, since he _was_ just asking you to join him and he _is_ good friends with you," Yuuko verified, almost jealously, "but I think Koushirou-kun does. Why would he spend so much time around with you or offer to treat you to dinner if he didn't like you in some way?"

"Treat me to dinner? I don't remember telling you about that."

'Damn…'

"Yuuko-chan!"

"Um, I didn't say anything. Boy oh boy, I can't wait until spring vacation, how about you?"

"Who told you that Koushirou took me out for dinner?"

"I won't lie…"

'More like you can't,' Mimi thought.

"...it was Miya-chan."

"What else did she tell you?"

"Nothing much, actually, just that you two were spending more time together due to that history project for sensei."

"Oh, well, yeah, he has treated me to dinner a couple of times to be _nice_. The first time, he was just making up for our missing going out on Sunday, so he offered to take me out on Monday. The next time he offered, I just took him up on it."

"Oh my gosh! Koushirou-kun likes you, Mi-chan!"

"N-n-no he doesn't!"

"He does to! He has a thing for you!"

"You're just crazy!" Mimi felt her cheeks going pink.

"Isn't it ironic that he decided to take you to Hikarigaoka on _White_ Day? Maybe that was his gift to you! Sunday _was_ March 14!"

"He didn't treat me to dinner on the 14th; he took me out on the 15th."

"But you said yourself that he was going to treat you on Sunday, but wasn't able to."

"Well, yeah, he did say something like that. He had offered to on Sunday, but things came up so we couldn't go."

"Where did you go for dinner on the 15th? Did he choose the place?"

"Saizeriya…and yeah, he kinda did choose it," Mimi responded meekly.

"Hm, did he order for you at any point?"

"Y-yeah. He ordered dessert for me."

"What was the dessert?"

"A slice of the restaurant's specialty, white chocolate cheese cake."

"Mi-chan! Are you _se_rious! Did he say anything unusual or weird during dinner?"

"N-no, not really," Mimi lied, as she recalled something Koushirou _had_ said during the dinner, _"Mimi-san, this is my present to you for yesterday. I had already had this in mind. Please enjoy it."_

"No matter how you look at it, it's coming across as a White Day gift, even if it _was_ a day late. You're so hung up over his gift that you didn't even mention the others you got."

"My room was filled with them when I got home, so I'm not sure when they could've come. I really dislike it in a way. I always get a bunch of presents. It would be nice to just get some basic candy instead of presents from love-crazed boys who want a relationship."

"But Koushirou-kun took you out to dinner and gave you a white cake! How is that _not_ a romantic gift?" Mimi sighed as Yuuko laughed. She had no way of actually defending herself. She was actually wondering about Koushirou's odd gesture now. "I'm sorry Mi-chan. I didn't mean to tease you, but I still can't help but wonder.

"Hey, what's his western zodiac sign?"

"Um, his birthday is in early November."

"Oh! Mi-chan! That would make him a Scorpio, and your birthday is in mid-July, which makes you a Cancer!"

"So?"

"Scorpios are compatible with Cancers! What's his blood type?"

"Um…I-I think it's…" she thought back to times where the boy had fully introduced himself, "…AB."

"Oh my gosh, Mi-chan! You're an *O-type! Don't you know that O-types, outside of other O-types, are the _most_ compatible with AB-types?"

"No, I didn't know that," she lied.

"No matter how you look at it, everything seems to be pointing in you twos' favor! You received dinner for a White Day gift, he ordered you a white cake, the both of you are compatible based on both the western zodiac _and_ through your blood type…I just don't see what else that could mean! I bet you two even share that *red thread of fate!"

"Now you're just being ridiculous!" Mimi told her halfheartedly. It _was _something to think about.

"I'm sorry Mi-chan. Anyway, I have to get going. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Okay, bye."

Both girls hanged up. Mimi tsked at her friend. 'I should have known it would have something to do with boys, but I can't help but wonder how she found out about my going to the dance with Yamato-san in the first place…'

Mimi picked the phone up again, and was trying to decide whether or not she should call Sora. After a minute or so, she made up her mind to look for her in the morning. She hadn't called her back to let her know how her outing went. Right now, though, Mimi was trying to figure out a way to approach Koushirou and curious if he was still upset with her. She felt it would be best to speak with him alone, but the idea of doing so was making her feel a bit shy based on what Yuuko had said, but she shook off the feeling.

'I guess I could just go over there in the morning before school. Mr. Izumi did say that Koushirou had turned in early, so maybe he's going to school early, and then I can join him on the walk.'

Mimi got up and went through her drawer to take out her bed clothes. 'I should get ready since I'll have to get up extra early in the morning to make my lunch and head over to Koushirou's.'

The girl hurried to take her bath, slip into her bed clothes, and hop into bed, where she fell into a deep slumber…

x x x x

The next morning, Mimi had done exactly what she'd set out to do. She got up early and prepared her lunch, which took quite a while. Getting up early wasn't one of her best habits, but she had been working on that more so lately. This particular Thursday morning was just the best opportunity for her to try.

After preparing her lunch, she went back upstairs to change into her school uniform. When she got back downstairs, she saw that her aunt was already up along with Isako and Ton. Mimi usually was getting herself situated when her aunt was on her way out. Her uncle was normally up by that time as well, when Sué was on her way out. She caused her aunt to jump when she entered the kitchen.

"Ohayou!" Mimi greeted loudly and cheerfully.

"Mimi-oneechan! Good morning!" Isako rushed to hug her.

"Good morning, Mimi-chan. You're up early today." She looked down at her watch, wondering if she and Isako were running late. Due to her job, she had to get up early anyway, which meant it wasn't often that she had much of an opportunity to prepare breakfast for the family. Her husband usually picked up something along the way, but she still prepared a lunch for him.

"I wanted to get to school early today," she told her casually while getting some juice from out of the fridge.

Sué started to prepare some toast for the children and put in an extra slice since Mimi had gotten up early. "Any particular reason why?"

"I wanted to meet up with Koushirou-kun. I couldn't get him last night. I even called his mobile phone, but it just stopped ringing abruptly and went straight to voice mail. I left a short message for him, letting him know that I was coming over this morning."

"Is Kou-niichan sad again?"

"No, I doubt that." Mimi picked up her bento, tied her cloth cover over it, and stuffed it into her book bag. "I have some information for him that will make him _very_ happy." The girl grabbed a dry piece of toast, and started nibbling on it. "That's all for me. I have to get going. I think that I couldn't get Koushirou-kun last night was because he went to bed early and to go to bed _that_ early, he's probably planning on leaving early."

She ran off to the door, holding the slice of toast in her mouth. She stepped into her shoes and opened the door.

"Mimi-chan, wait!" her aunt called.

Mimi didn't hear her. She just rushed out of the door, and called back, "ja ne!"

"Oh, that girl. She should eat more than just a slice of toast and more than just a glass of juice."

"Maybe Mimi-oneechan has some money and she'll go get some candy and cookies and other snacks." Isako got a sparkly look in her eye. "Ooh, can I have some candy and ice cream for breakfast, mommy?"

"That's even worse," Sué laughed. "No, you cann_ot_ eat all of that junk food for your breakfast. Stick to your slice of toast and your cereal."

"I don't want to eat cereal today!"

"Your brother likes it."

The girl looked over at her brother, who was making more of a mess than actually getting any of the cereal in his mouth. "Cereal is baby food!"

"Then _I _must be a baby too because I _love_ eating cereal! I wish we could eat it everyday." Sué sat down and filled her small bowl with Rice Krispies and poured in the milk. She started to eat it. "Very tasty."

"Okay, maybe it isn't baby food." Isako gulped down a spoonful of her meal.

"That's my girl," she smiled to her. 'Reverse psychology works every time.' She started to help Ton with his meal.

"But ice cream and candy still tastes better," the four year old muttered, while going back to her cold breakfast…

x x x x

Mimi had _finally_ made it to the Izumi home with lots of time to spare. She still had about an hour before she had to get to school. Usually, for her, she'd get to school about 15 or 30 minutes early, depending on whether or not she felt she needed the sleep or if she had to be up for a club meeting or a student assembly. She knocked on the door of the Izumi apartment. It took a while, which surprised her, but Mr. Izumi, groggily, answered the door.

"Good morning Mr. Izumi."

"Good morning," the man yawned.

"Since you told me that Koushirou-kun was asleep when I called, I figured he was planning on going to school early today. I decided to walk with him."

"Sure, come on in," he told her, while also trying to act as if nothing had happened the previous night.

He walked over to Koushirou's room and knocked on his door. Mimi took notice of the usually cozy home. It didn't seem cozy at all this time around, and something just seemed incredibly off to her.

"Koushirou," Mr. Izumi knocked, "Mimi is here to see you." There was no answer, and he sighed out under his breath, "Not again…"

After a few moments of knocking, Mr. Izumi opened the bedroom door. Mimi went in with him, even though she knew that there was the strong possibility of Koushirou being in his bedclothes. What they found when entering the room was a Koushirou-less one. He wasn't there, and by the looks of the room, he hadn't been there for a while.

"Wow, I guess he took off early this morning to head off to school."

"W-well, it's my fault. I should have made sure he knew I was coming over before I actually came here." Mimi felt awful. Was he _really_ avoiding her? 'No, that can't be it. He wouldn't have tried calling me if he was trying to avoid me…'

"No no, that's okay. He usually doesn't leave this early. We usually all have breakfast together. Would you like me to get you to school since you came all the way over here?"

"No thank you. I'll go by myself," she said, almost regrettably.

Mimi waved to the man and headed out. She was very anxious to leave. She was feeling a lot of tension from Mr. Izumi. He didn't seem like his usual self and she was also surprised that the normally cheerful Mrs. Izumi hadn't been the one to answer the door given the time, like she usually would have. She also knew, through Koushirou and Taichi, that Mrs. Izumi was definitely an early bird. She found it odd that Mr. Izumi seemed a bit distracted and that Mrs. Izumi was no place to be found.

Deciding not to worry herself over such a thing, she made the journey to school. When she arrived there, with 30 minutes to spare, she ran into Miyako. She was glad to see a happy face and ran up to greet her. The smile Miyako had been wearing seemed to involuntarily fade when she took notice of Mimi. After the routine "good morning", Miyako told Mimi that she had some other things to do, like preparing for the incoming first years and that she was in a hurry and took off.

'First Koushirou, now Miyako! It's like people are avoiding me today!'

The feeling of avoidance didn't last long, as she had run into Yamato when heading to her classroom. "Hey, Mimi!"

"Yamato-san! Good morning."

The two started to walk down the hall, Yamato talking, but Mimi had, unintentionally, partially tuned him out. He noticed the girl was lost in thought, and tried his best to get her attention, but one good, "Mimi!" snapped her out of her trance.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just had something on my mind."

"What's wrong?"

"Well, I was just curious about Koushirou. I was hoping to run into him."

"I haven't seen him since…Monday I think. Why are you looking for him?"

"We're partnered up for a history project and it's due tomorrow! I have some information to give him so that he can finish it."

"Oh yeah, your project. Sora mentioned something about that."

"I really hope I can get a hold of him."

"You should be able to since you both share the same homeroom."

"Oh yeah, that's right," she laughed bashfully.

"Well, now that that problem is taken care of, I was wondering if you'd like to hang out after school today. You're done with testing and no club stuff until later, so you're free, right?"

"Yeah, I am. I wouldn't mind joining you this afternoon; I just hope Koushirou won't need my help."

Yamato laughed a bit. "I'm sure Koushirou will be fine one day without you."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

The two spent the rest of the morning talking together in the gym, jealous Mimi supporters and jealous Yamato supporters whispering and glaring at the threat of the object of their affections. Mimi was able to get her mind off of Koushirou and more interested in Yamato. She had never really had much of a conversation with him before without the others around. She also realized that she'd never hung around him fully alone either. It was very nice to talk to Yamato in this way for a change. She had no idea he actually had much to talk about given how quiet he was. She always viewed him as the lone wolf, a _little_ anti-social, despite his popularity, but around her, he was the complete opposite. He was even capable of making jokes.

Something else Mimi discovered was that the two of them had quite a bit in common, like the music thing, which was already known anyway, but the _main_ similarity both shared, was how they semi-disliked the attention that the students at the school would give them. Since Yamato had invited Mimi out, they were discussing places that they could go after school. Yamato wanted to check out the park, but knew better than to mention that. The park was for couples, "pigeons and lovers", he always felt. They both decided to head over to Aqua City and just find something to do there, or maybe even catch a movie or either go out for karaoke again. Mimi was sure that she could butter up the owners so that the two of them could get another discount, as karaoke in the evenings and night tended to cost a lot.

The two talked for so long, that Mimi had forgotten all about her wanting to meet up with Sora to ask her how all went with Taichi. The clock chimed before she could even consider it. She and Yamato parted ways, and she rushed to her homeroom class. She took her usual seat between Ayame and Yuuko. Ayame started to tease, some, about "the late White Day gift from Koushirou-kun". Ayame, apparently, agreed with Yuuko's theory.

"No matter what, you _always_ get White Day gifts, even from boys you didn't give any presents to on Valentine's Day." Yuuko sighed. "I _so_ envy you."

"Don't envy me, I hate that attention sometimes."

"Really?"

"What do you _mean_ you dislike the attention?" asked Yuuko in surprise. "I would _love_ to have that kind of attention from all of the boys in school."

"Like I said last night, I dislike that kind of attention because of how the boys act."

"I still wish I could have it," she muttered.

"Well, all of those boys want to get into a serious relationship with me, but none of them actually _knows_ me. The only thing they know about me is that I'm supposedly 'pretty'. The White Day gifts I receive show that they are interested in becoming my boyfriend and probably feel that by giving me presents like plushies and the flowers and cakes and cookies and candies, aside from the normal 'obligation candies', like marshmallow ones, that they'll impress me enough to consider getting into a relationship with them.

"Unless I get an actual boyfriend, those boys will probably never leave me alone, and those same boys never seem to hear me when I say to them, 'I am not interested in getting into a relationship right now'," she finished up exasperatingly.

"Wow, all this time, I thought you liked the attention boys gave you," Ayame stated.

She gave her two friends a half smile. "Well, I kind of do. The presents I get are really nice," she coyly admitted. 'With what happened Sunday, though, it wouldn't bother me if I never got attention from those types of boys again…'

"I should have known!" Yuuko laughed.

Before either girl could comment again, the door opened, and a tall, dark-haired man, who always came across as depressed-looking, entered the classroom holding the class-register to take the role. To the students, he came across as not caring about anything in general and actually openly complained about having to teach, like he actually regretted becoming one in the first place. "I can't wait until this nightmare is over", was one thing he usually always constantly muttered at the start of each class.

"Oh no," Ayame warned, "we better quiet down. It's Zenshin-sensei, and we _all_ know how he is if we aren't quiet while he's taking the role."

"Yeah." Yuuko rolled her eyes slightly. "He's _truly_ annoying and has such a negative disposition. He always talks like he's dead or something."

"Akahito Yuuya-kun…"

"Present!"

"Ueda Yuuji-kun…"

"HERE!"

"My _ears_, Ueda-kun…"

"S-sorry…ehehehe…"

"Kobayashi Kenji-kun…"

"Present!"

"Tomokazu Seki-kun…"

"Here, sir."

"Mushano Kouji-kun…"

"Present!"

He continued on, getting down to the girls in Mimi's group…

"Uehara Rena-san..."

"Present!"

"Katsumaki Risa-san…"

"Present!"

"Sasaki Misaki-san…"

"Here!"

"Sasaki Yuuko-san…."

"Here!"

"Shinohara Ayame-san…"

"Present!"

"Saito Mari-san…"

"Here!"

"Tachikawa Mimi-san…"

"Present!"

"Good, finally done," the man said, after reading off the last name (Watanabe Sera) of the register, "now all of you today will have to-"

The man stopped talking abruptly, as he noticed an arm shoot up, and being waved around. He sighed in annoyance, and called on the student. Everyone in class knew _not_ to get on Mr. Zenshin's bad side or to ask him questions in general, in fear of his irritably snapping at you. The one to raise his hand was Yuuji, and everyone in class felt he was definitely being brave.

Yuuji had surprised himself as well that he was about to speak up for a fellow a student; a fellow student he was partially jealous of, yet he would never bring himself to admit that to the actual student in question or any of his peers…

"What is it, Ueda-kun?"

"You forgot someone."

'Why did I even get out of _bed_ this morning,' the man inwardly sighed. "What are you talking about? Everyone's here; now stop holding up your class! I never make mistakes."

"No, you forgot someone!"

"Okay, who? Who did I miss when taking the role, if you're so smart, and I know you're not!"

He had braced himself for the cold statement, but ignored it. "I-I-Izumi," he nervously stuttered. He pointed to the empty desk on the other side of him. "He's not here."

The other students, who had been wrapped up in their own little conversations (if they dared) and worlds, noticed that Yuuji was right, but since he was usually always there, no one noticed that he wasn't, and that included the student in between Koushirou and Yuuji.

"What?" The man barked out a cruel laugh. "Izumi-kun has had perfect attendance since he first enrolled here. He probably went to the toilets before class."

Another boy stood and uneasily spoke up. Just like all students who had the misfortune to have this pessimistic man as a teacher all usually avoided having to speak to him more than necessary. "I think my cousin may be right, sir."

"What?"

"I _didn't_ see him this morning, and he isn't here now. Izumi-san isn't the type to be late to class, especially homeroom since that's where one's attendance counts most." Seki looked towards Mimi. "Mimi-chan, have you seen Izumi-san? I know that the two of you were paired up for that history project for Ishidzuka-sensei."

Mimi shook her head guiltily, surprised that she hadn't even noticed Koushirou's absence. She was so wrapped in herself, she'd completely forgotten about him and why she was anxious to find him in the first place.

"What do you know…Izumi-kun _isn't_ here," the man's dull voice actually changed to that of a sympathetic one. "Well, um, I'm sorry I doubted you, Ueda-kun." _Every_one stared wide-eyed at the man, and Yuuji nearly stumbled when retaking his seat. That was the nicest the man had ever been. "This is, well, I don't know what to call this. He's _never_ missed a day of school. I just marked him down as present since it's a force of habit. I pretty much do that for most of you."

Mr. Zenshin pulled out his register again and scratched out the "x" and changed it to a check mark for absent. Mimi was now growing worried.

'I knew something wasn't right! He was trying to call me yesterday and even called around, but didn't answer when I called back! And then, there's the fact that he wasn't home this morning when I went over to his place and there was an incredibly weird vibe coming from his father _and_ that place. It was almost overwhelming. If he didn't come to school, where could he be? Oh, I _really_ hope nothing has happened to him…'

Ayame and Yuuko looked over at Mimi, noticing the uneasy look on her face. The two knew that she was worrying over Koushirou, and she actually wasn't the only one. The rest of the students were curious as to where he was too, since it was out of the ordinary for Koushirou to miss school, as Mr. Zenshin had pointed out. These other students may not have been good friends with him, but they still respected him as their fellow student of class 2-B. They all hoped that nothing had gone wrong with him.

"Mi-chan, don't worry about it," Yuuko told her friend reassuringly with a gentle smile.

"Yeah, he's probably just running late today."

She gave her two friends a nod. She knew that they were just trying to ease her worries, but Mimi knew something must have happened or gone wrong.

The day continued on. Koushirou still didn't show up and even missed the graduation rehearsals that all the students had to practice for the ceremony. Everyone else just figured that Koushirou had stayed home sick, but Mimi knew better. She even tried mailing him through her phone, despite the fact that using such things during school hours was prohibited, but had yet to receive a response. When Miyako found out about Koushirou's not being in school by the time lunch rolled around, she was slightly concerned as well, but not to the extent that Mimi was. At that time, she was on more friendly terms with Mimi again. An e-mail sent through her D-Terminal early that morning, which she didn't even check until before lunch, had convinced her of that….

Miyako-kun,

I'm sorry for the way I acted and treated you last night. I didn't mean to come across as rude, but I was in a terrible hurry, and really had to get in touch with Mimi-san. Unfortunately, I never did. As you probably already know, Mimi-san is my partner for my history project. I'm sure she probably shared this with you already. I had to discuss something about our presentation, and then I had to get off the phone.

So, once again, I _do_ apologize for my impolite behavior. I hope I did not jeopardize our friendship because of it. I would have come over and apologized in person, like I'd planned to do last night, but something came up keeping me from doing so.

So, no hard feelings?

~Koushirou~

Miyako, of course, replied back in record speed, but had yet to get a response back. Of course, due to the e-mail, Miyako felt she owed Mimi a major apology for her coldness towards the older girl, even though Mimi admitted to not really fully noticing, and that whatever the problem was, that she figured that Miyako would work it out on her own.

By the time school ended, her phone's mailbox containing of no messages from Koushirou, Mimi was ready to head over to the Izumi's to see if he'd gotten home, but she was stopped outside of the school by the doors by a few friends of hers…

"Hey, Mimi. Are you ready to head over to Aqua City?"

"Yamato-san…" Along with him were three other people. "Sora-san, Taichi-san, Miyako-chan…"

"So, are we still on for Aqua City?"

"I'm not so sure now," Mimi frowned.

"According to Miyako-chan and others, you've been stressed out all day, and even before that, you missed Sora's party. You really should unwind. I know that our spring vacation is coming up, but who says we all can't start celebrating it early?"

"But what about Koushirou? What if something _has_ happened to him? I have this terrible feeling that something's wrong."

"Aww, Mimi-chan," Taichi began with a toothy grin, "it's probably all in your imagination since you, and everyone else, aren't used of him missing school. You should go hang out with Yamato."

"It'll help to ease your mind, oneesama."

"But I'm not sure if I should…"

"Don't worry about Koushirou. He probably just decided to take a day off. Tests are over, and you guys are second years. Missing school at this time of the year isn't all that important and most of the work for the entrance ceremonies for the first years have already been done anyway. Everyone deserves time off sometimes," Taichi insisted.

"Go ahead, Mimi-chan," Sora smiled warmly to her. "Leave Koushirou-kun to us."

"I guess you all are right…"

"We know we are!" Miyako told her confidently.

"So, are you still going to come with me to Aqua City?" He sounded hopeful.

"You're that anxious for me to spend the afternoon with you?"

Yamato gave her a smile. "Of course. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't? I meant it when I asked you this morning to go, and you know I'm pretty serious when it comes to friendships."

Mimi knew quite well how much Yamato valued his friendship with all of them, but she was still a bit skeptical about going. She couldn't help it, though. Over the years, she had become more helpful and considerate towards others, and seemed to always want to either help them or cheer them up. Deep down, she knew that something was wrong with Koushirou; that he was going through some type of a personal crisis and was in need of guidance, or at _least_ in need of someone to talk to. That's what she was feeling at the moment.

She thought for a moment, and then gave in. Maybe she _was_ worrying over Koushirou too much. When she _knew_ something was bothering Miyako, she hadn't given it too much of a second thought, but why was she so worried over Koushirou? She also felt that Yamato was being very nice to invite her out.

"Okay, I'll go!"

"Great. The reason I wanted to just hang around was because I don't have a band practice this evening. Now, Miss Tachikawa, it is time to relax, and I shall be your escort. We should probably practice for Saturday."

He put out his arm playfully, which Mimi accepted. "Wow, the perfect gentleman," she laughed.

"I learn from the best."

"Me!"

"No way, Taichi! I learned from oyaji, of course!"

Taichi, Sora, and Miyako laughed at the irony of that, partially. Mr. Ishida, a divorced man, giving good advice. Even Yamato chuckled a bit, as his father wasn't very good with women.

"Have a good time, Yamato-kun, Mimi-chan!" Sora told to them.

"Don't worry about Izumi-senpai! We'll find out what's wrong! He should be answering the messages we all sent him sooner or later!"

The girl smiled, and she and Yamato walked off together. Getting her mind off of her redheaded companion wasn't going to be easy, but it _was_ worth a try. After the two were long gone, Sora spoke up.

"You know, in a way, I don't blame Mimi-chan for being worried."

"I don't blame her either. From what you were telling me when we were out last night, something is stressing Koushirou out and since Mimi-chan has been hanging around him the most lately compared to the rest of us, it's having the biggest effect on her."

"I guess Izumi-senpai is stressed out over his adoption."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Sora mentioned that he was adopted too."

Sora had actually shared a lot with Taichi; even the incident involving Mimi's partial assault and Koushirou's rescuing her, even though it came out by mistake as Taichi brought up the subject, like he had with Yamato just a few days earlier. He was stunned that Mimi was the girl and that the anonymous hero was his little buddy. Given that neither Mimi nor Koushirou had mentioned it to him, or the others, he kept quiet, as Sora had sworn him to secrecy. Of course, one thing Taichi wanted to do was to punch out Mimi's attacker, and he knew that Yamato and Koushirou would've probably been more than happy to join in along with Daisuke and Takeru and the others. Either way, they spent quite a bit of time on that particular subject, but not so much on Koushirou's adoption.

"Well, he found out a _lot_ about his biological father, but hardly anything about his mother, and for some reason, Koushirou-kun refused to go to the _one_ place that would probably have a lot of information about her."

"Where?" asked Taichi.

"Odaiba Elementary School," Miyako answered. "His mother was a teacher there before she died."

"Mimi-chan went there yesterday, but I didn't get the chance to talk to her about it. After I got in last night, I went straight to sleep. She must have found something since she seemed so anxious to find Koushirou-kun, according to Yamato-kun."

"She must've," Miyako agreed.

"With his strange moods lately, I hope he didn't do anything rash."

"What, like suicide?" asked Taichi in surprise. "Sora! I doubt my buddy would do something like that!"

"I wasn't thinking of anything _that_ extreme!"

"But _where_ could Izumi-senpai be?"

"It isn't like him to run off like that."

"The news about his missing school seemed to get around," Taichi said. "It's surprising that how no one knows where he is today. Anyway," Taichi began to laugh, "if he was going to skip school, he should've told me so I could ditch with him!"

"Taichi!"

"Just kidding, Sora, but it's still a shock that he didn't show up today."

"Oh, I wish Koushirou-kun wouldn't do such things."

"He's worrying everyone. I bet the Izumis are going crazy and hoping he comes home, unless they already know where he is. Mrs. Izumi worry whenever he sneezes," joked Taichi.

'Like your mother does with you?' Sora inwardly thought.

"The impression I got from oneesama is that they don't know anything. She said that she went over there this morning, and that Mr. Izumi assumed that Izumi-senpai had left for school early."

"I'm still curious as to _why_ Koushirou-kun would run off like that."

"Maybe Izumi-senpai needed some more information and went back to Hikarigaoka."

"I don't think he'd do something like that. Koushirou's the considerate type."

"That may be normal for Koushirou-kun, but he hasn't been very considerate lately by the sounds of it. His mood keeps changing. He snapped at Mimi-chan yesterday."

"I hope he comes back soon to calm her down. We had to force her to go with Yamato to Aqua City, and Mimi-chan _never_ turns down that type of opportunity, especially with Venus Fort being in the same area."

"Hey there! Wait up!" the three heard a girl say.

The three turned to see two girls coming over towards them. "Chinatsu-san, Chizu-nee."

"Hey there," Chizuru greeted. "Why are you just hanging outside?"

"No real reason, actually. We were just talking about some things. What are you still doing here, Chizu-nee?"

"I was working on some more decorations for the dance on Saturday, and was about to head home. I was elected as head of the decorating committee, so it's important that everything is just right. We were just going over the finishing touches."

"Neither Ayame-chan nor Yuuko-chan wanted to help, but I was trying to get everything organized for the Volleyball Club starting next month, since I _am_ going to be captain of it."

"Congratulations, Chinatsu!" Taichi said proudly while giving her a thumbs up. "I knew you could do it!"

"Th-thank you, Taichi-senpai," the girl said with a slight blush. "I couldn't have done it without you and your encouraging words."

"No, don't give me any credit. You did all of it on your own! You practiced and worked very hard to improve your game. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to volleyball. I'm a lousy player and much better when it comes to soccer and tennis, but I could see your determination, discipline, and perseverance whenever I saw you play a game or if I just happened to come across your volleyball practices. The head sponsor of the club must have seen that in you, just like I did."

"I'm not surprised she became captain either," Sora smiled proudly at her. "It's like Taichi said, she's always practicing to improve her game."

"She's a true, dedicated player, and a great asset to the club and this school," Taichi nodded in approval.

Chinatsu felt her face going even redder from all of the praise. She was practically glowing. "Yes, w-well, I was just informed of my being captain for the upcoming year after class. I was called to the teacher's room. I never would've believed it. She said that I was a very hard worker, good at strategy, and that I really deserved to be captain. I also have some more news, and it's for Mimi-chan. Has anyone seen her? I was looking around for her, and ran into Inoue-san. I heard Mimi-chan was still hanging around the school grounds."

"She just left with Yamato-san."

"Oh yeah, her afternoon outing. I'm surprised she decided to go since she was worried about Izumi-kun all day. She wasn't her usual self today at all during lunch, even when Yuuko-chan started teasing her about the late White Day gift she got from Izumi-kun."

'White Day gift? Izumi-senpai gave her one?'

"Late White Day gift? He actually remembered to give one?" asked Taichi curiously. "What kind of gift?"

"It's crazy, but since Mimi-chan and Izumi-kun weren't able to go out on Sunday, like originally planned, they went out on Monday night, the day after White Day, and Izumi-kun treated her to dinner and chose a dessert for her..."

'Whoa...Koushirou took Mimi out? Sora didn't mention _that_ to me yesterday.'

"...A white chocolate cheesecake, so Yuuko-chan went on about how Izumi-kun just gave her a late gift. I thought it was silly."

'A white cake…Izumi-senpai gave her a _white_ cake?'

"W-well, yes, it's probably nothing," Sora insisted hastily. She didn't want to get into that discussion, even though, with that revelation, it did raise the same suspicions she'd had earlier about Koushirou's peculiar actions towards Mimi.

"I can see why Yuuko would think something of it, though," Taichi mumbled distractedly, wondering if there _was_ more to it. He was ready to pull Sora aside to question her about it and then tease Koushirou later over it.

"It's still strange how Koushirou-kun didn't show up today," Chizuru said, hastily changing the subject. She noticed Miyako's reaction to it, and felt it was definitely better to find something else to talk about. "Maybe he's sick."

"Who knows," Sora sighed.

Chizuru started to conspicuously look around. She smiled when she saw a car pull up in front of the school. "Oh great, he's here!"

"Who's here?"

"My partner for the dance."

Miyako stepped up to her older sister, and got into her face. "You finally have a partner? Who is it? Who is it? Why didn't you _tell_ me? Mom and dad approve of you going along with a boy who's old enough to _drive_? You have to be at least 18 to get a driver's license here for cars!"

"Calm down, my nosy baby sister. Nineteen isn't _that_ old." She smirked. "Besides, you will soon see, that is if you decide to hurry home. He is going to join us for dinner tonight."

"Okay, okay, I'll be home later."

The boy driving an old, '98 Toyota Corrola, called to the Inoue girl. "Chizu-chan, I'm here."

"Okay, coming! Talk to you later, Miyako!"

Chizuru hopped into the car, and it pulled off.

'He sounds familiar…I wonder if it's someone both Chizu-nee and I know.'

"Well, since Mimi-chan has already left, I guess I can tell you all the news, and then you all can pass it along to her later if you guys see her. I have so much to do tonight and I don't think I'll have the time to call her."

"What do you want us to tell her?" asked Taichi.

"Our head sponsor wants to see Mimi-chan tomorrow before school, that's what she wanted me to tell her. She has a surprise for her. I'm going to be captain for the upcoming year, but Mimi-chan is going to be my co-captain!"

"Wow! Mimi-oneesama is going to be a co-captain?"

"Mimi? _Head_ of a _sports_ club?" Taichi couldn't fully wrap his mind around that. "I never thought I'd live to see the day where _she_ would become head of any type of a sports club! I still find it hard to believe that she's _in_ a sports club."

"I never really pictured Mimi-chan as the sports type either, especially when we were younger, but she talked about how she played volleyball for her gym classes when in America, and really liked it."

"I know what you mean, Sora-san. I was surprised too when she wanted to join our club." Chinatsu looked down at her watch. "Oh, I have to get going. I'll talk to you all later. If our head sponsor decides to call her tonight, and she shares that with you, tell her congratulations from me. Bye."

Chinatsu took off, Sora praising her. "It's great that she became captain and that Mimi-chan became co-captain."

"Yeah, it really is. I wonder how she'll take the news."

"She'll probably take it well. She's the bubbly type." Taichi clapped his hands together. "So, what do you girls want to do now?"

"We should probably go home."

Sora gave the computer whiz a look. "You're just curious who the boy was that just picked up your sister."

"I may be nosy, but I'm not _that_ nosy," Miyako said while crossing her arms, with a sneaky grin. "Besides, I _do_ have other ways of finding out."

"Momoe-san?"

"Bingo!"

Sora laughed. "Well, Taichi, we should probably just go home. Until Koushirou-kun contacts Miyako-chan or Mimi-chan or any of us, there really isn't much we can do in regards to him."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Right before the three could walk away from the big school, just as most others were doing, they heard a light, familiar voice call out, "oniichan"! This, of course, prompted Taichi to see who it was, as well as a few other boys, but seeing as how they weren't being called, they continued on.

"Oniichan! O_nii_chan!"

The person to call out was Hikari. She was riding up towards Odaiba Junior High on her bike along with Daisuke, Takeru, and the 10-year-old martial artist in training, Iori, whom were also riding bikes.

"What are _you_ four doing here?"

They all stopped short in front of them.

"We're here to tell you the news!" Daisuke exclaimed.

"What news?" asked Miyako.

"It's about Koushirou-san," Iori spoke up.

"What about him?" asked Sora.

"He's missing!" Takeru told them.

Taichi boisterously laughed. "So you heard that Koushirou didn't come to school too? The news seems to travel around here fast. I bet if Jou had missed a day of school, we'd be doing a nationwide search for him," he joked. Neither of the four younger children cracked a smile, which Taichi noticed. "You all are just worrying over nothing. Koushirou's been down lately, so he probably just decided to take the day off," he insisted.

"No, oniichan, it's more serious than that. He's _literally_ missing!"

"You'll never believe it!" Takeru said.

"There is a missing person's report out on him," Hikari explained.

"On _Kou_shirou-kun?"

Iori nodded. "His parents want to form parties to go out in search of him. He's vanished."

"_What_?"

"It's true," Daisuke confirmed. "No one knows where he is, so his parents called the police and officers are looking for him all over!"

"We were all in the computer lab, trying to decide on where to go since we all had agreed on riding our bikes," Hikari continued. "Iori-kun was on one of the computers, and there was a short special on the news site he was looking at, and it mentioned that Koushirou-san was missing. After a while, we were wondering if he'd gone to the Digital World, so we tried getting in contact with Gennai-san. It took a while, but we finally managed to through my D-Terminal. I asked if he'd seen him, and he told us how he hadn't heard from Koushirou-san in weeks and if he were in the Digital World that he would know about it. Whenever a gate is opened to and from the Digital World, Gennai-san has detection software to let him know where the gate is and when it was accessed. There hasn't been a gate open to the Digital World from Japan in weeks, but he said that he'll ask the other Digimon if they knew anything, but wasn't sure if he wanted to ask Tentomon in fear of worrying him. We all figured that both you and Yamato-san would probably still be here, and felt that you should know, so we headed straight over here, stopping at some places along the way."

"I had to pick up something from home, first," Iori told them, "and while there, an officer had come to my place, as well as the Takaishi place, asking around for him since the officer knew he had friends there. They're probably going to search all over Odaiba until they find him, hopefully."

"I hope Mimi-chan doesn't hear about this," Sora frowned.

"Where is she?" asked Hikari.

"She's out with Yamato," answered Taichi.

"She's with my brother? I thought he had a band practice today."

"He must have canceled it so that he could take oneesama out."

'Wow, he never cancels practices unless it's an emergency. I hope the other guys aren't too upset over the last minute cancellation.'

"What do we do now?" asked Taichi, finally growing concerned himself. "I had no idea that his not going to school was going to end up _this_ serious."

"Well, I feel that we should help Mr. and Mrs. Izumi search for Koushirou-san," Iori stated seriously, a hint of worry in his voice. "With all of us together, we could probably come up with ideas as to where he could be. I really do not feel that he has run away, like the officers we ran into are trying to insinuate. They feel that it is a 'runaway case'." Iori scratched his head. 'I still wonder why the Izumis are going along with that. If it was a runaway case, I doubt the police would have gotten involved in the first place.'

"I agree with Iori-kun. I don't feel Koushirou-kun has 'run away' either or is even '_missing_' for that matter. He's been going through some personal things lately and probably wanted to be by himself for a while, like Taichi said, but a part of me feels that we still should go out and try to find him to let him know that his family is worried about him. If he knew that, then he would probably come straight home. I also feel that Jou-senpai would be the best person to go ask for help from. He could find us some better transportation if it _does_ require us to have to physically search around."

"Like that moped of his!" Daisuke yelled excitedly, as he pulled down his goggles, acting as if he were driving it. He even made the sound effects.

"D-Daisuke-kun…" Takeru sweat dropped.

"Um, yes, Sora-san has a good idea," he uncharacteristically formally stated, calming down. "Ehehehe…"

The group decided to head to Jou's place. Jou no longer resided at the Odaiba Mansion apartment complex. He lived by himself in his own apartment near his private school, but his father paid most of the rent for it. Jou paid the rest, as he had a part-time job. Usually it wasn't allowed (or recommended) for students to work and to just concentrate on their studies, but with Jou's school, he made extra money by working through it. That was the only way he was allowed to work. To avoid spending too much money, he walked and biked a lot, but on occasion, especially since he was of age, he'd just take the moped.

The moped once belonged to his oldest brother Shin, and still was going strong, which Jou made sure to take good care of. He'd left it to Jou after heading off to medical school a few year earlier. Shuu wasn't the type to ride, which was why Shin hadn't bothered giving it to him, which wasn't that much of a problem. For Shuu's 18th birthday, his parents surprised him with a 2000 Volkswagen Beetle. At first, his father was upset with Shuu for switching his major and threatened to take the car away from him, and giving it to Jou after he was old enough, and in some ways, "disowned" him.

After that, Shuu didn't speak to his father for a while – but was still allowed to keep the car – but the two patched things up, thanks to an intervention brought on by Mrs. Kido. Mr. Kido realized that he had to let his sons follow their own paths, and to be successful in whatever they were best in.

"Operation find Koushirou-san is on! Off to senpai's we go!" Daisuke announced.

"Bingo!" Miyako saluted as she punched a fist into the air…

Author's Notes

Note 1: Have quite a bit to go through this time. Anyway, in Japan, like how some go by astrological signs to determine compatibility, they go by the blood type. I mentioned earlier I was planning on touching up on this as it's fun, and it gets Mimi to think about it sub-consciously. It's like I'm throwing massive hints for those two. lol

x x x

Note 2: The red thread of destiny/fate is an ancient Chinese legend, which goes on about how everyone is connected to a person they are destined to meet with and eventually become lovers regardless of the obstacles that may be in the way of the two meeting. They are connected by an invisible red thread. In other words, it's the East Asian equivalent of "soul mates".

x x x

Fic Chapter Changes

Main change is Yuuko and Mimi's conversation in the beginning of this chapter. After I wrote this and uploaded this (originally), everything in the conversation I wanted to change, but I never got around to it, until now. I wanted to have Mimi second-guessing Koushirou's actions and also wondering if they were compatible in some way. Yuuko was the perfect person to use for that, imo.

I added in Taichi knowing about Mimi's being attacked. Originally, Sora had only shared that Koushirou was adopted. This is something else that I originally wanted to change, but didn't until now.

I changed the roster order and added in some names. Originally I had the names in alphabetical order…English alphabetical order. I changed it to the order it would (and should) be in Japanese. In Japan, it would be: a, i, u, e, o, ka, ki, ku, ke, ko, sa, shi/si, su, se so, ta, chi, tsu, te, to, na, ni, nu, ne, no, ha, hi, hu (fu), he, ho, ma, mi, mu, me, mo, ya, yu, yo, ra, ri, ru, re, ro, wa, wo, n (has an "m" sound).

I added in more dialog after Chinatsu showed up. I had her mention Yuuko's White Day theory so that we could get a reaction out of Miyako. I also added in that Chizuru noticed Miyako's reaction.

I changed the whole news cast thing. Originally, I had that Hikari and the others had seen a news report from their homes, and then decided to go to Odaiba Junior High to find Taichi and Yamato. In Japan, for the most part, all of the schools tend to roughly start at the same time, and let out at the same time, although, high school is a bit of an exception. The days are longer for them, especially if they participate in club activities, but for the most part, the schools still _start_ round about the same time, give or take ten minutes or so.

I added in Hikari mentioning trying to contact Gennai to see if Koushirou had gone to the Digital World. Getting right down to it, this should have been the first place the kids thought to look, but when originally writing this, it slipped my mind to include this.

I cut out a random scene after Jou's moped was mentioned. The scene was originally tossed in because I had a writer's block, and wanted to have something silly. Daisuke went into a fantasy sequence, imagining himself riding on the moped, which included him pulling the goggles Taichi gave him over his eyes and randomly going on about how he was a speed demon or whatever. It was pretty pointless, yet, fun to write, due to how the others reacted. Most didn't want to know him. lol I even had Iori inwardly question how the Digital World's rescue (for the most part) was reliant on him. I think I wrote in Takeru's going on about how the boy needed "Ritalin" and how Sora vowed to act as if she didn't know him and how Taichi was going to "whack him". You know, like how he and Agumon tried to hit Koushirou's computer to try and fix it that one time, but he moved in time and they ended up hitting each other.


	24. 24 Still Missing, Yet Found

Hi again everyone, and I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I have a new job now that's very time-consuming, so it's cutting into my writing time. Anywho, we're finally getting closer to finding Koushirou. I know this may come across as unrealistic so far, everyone in search of Koushirou, but it'll get explained as to _why _the police force is wasting the time to search for him in the first place, and as you saw last chapter, even Iori was curious as to why they were bothering, especially if the police are viewing it as a "runaway" case, as runaway cases are _very_ common in general and not particularly worth all the man time.

Now, as you can see - in a general sense - this story is dragging on some more and I apologize for that, but please bear with me everyone. For this chapter, I just _really_ wanted an excuse to bring Jou back into the story since he hasn't been shown, or remotely mentioned much, since chapter 12, and that was extremely brief. As much as I like Jou, I just couldn't figure out a way to actually have him play much of a role in this fic, not like how he did for my Digidream fic, which included everyone playing some kind of a role, even if it was minor.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 24: Still Missing, Yet Found…

It didn't take the group _too _long, but they finally made it to Jou's place. Jou was the only one who was already on his spring vacation, so his being home wasn't too surprising, unless at his part-time job through his school. Jou opened the door and joined them in front of it as they all took turns explaining what had happened to Koushirou, minus the part about his case being treated as a "missing persons" report, and Sora going on, partially, about how down the boy had been coming across lately.

Jou hadn't heard the news nor had he come across it, since he'd been studying and doing homework most of the day, since he had juku (cram school) to go to later on that evening and he had tests to take. Along with him, were both Eijiro and Malissa. They were studying along with him since they knew how seriously Jou took his schooling and how firm a believer he was in test scores, and how they had to be the best. Since school wasn't in session, Jou had some extra free-time anyway, since he didn't have to work at his part-time job at his school-sponsored supply shop.

It was Jou's idea for the study session. Some found Jou a bit odd at times, as one of his favorite past-times was doing loads of homework and studying. He had other interests, but not as much as studying and homework. His joining his friends for karaoke was a rarity for him _during_ the school year, as well as his actually attending Sora's party, but Eijiro persuaded him into going since _he_ really wanted to go.

"_Missing_? Koushirou-kun is missing? What are you all talking about?"

"It's just like we said, he's missing and, according to Gennai, he's not in the Digital World either!" Daisuke repeated.

Jou gave Taichi a questioning look. "Is this some kind of a joke to drag me away from my studies like you _always_ try to do?"

"Do we _look_ like we're joking?" Taichi inquired seriously.

Jou took note of the expressions on his younger friends' faces. Neither seemed to be joking, and neither looked to be trying to hold back laughter as if it _were_ some kind of a trick. "Wow, you guys _are_ serious."

They all then went into more detail about how the Izumis had reported him to the police as a missing person, and how they wanted to help look for him.

"I personally don't feel that Koushirou-san has run away, like the police are assuming," Iori input wisely. "He's just unaware that his not being around is causing everyone to worry about him."

"I've known him for a while. We did live in the same place for a few years. It isn't like him to just run off like that, and I doubt he'd run _away_ either," Jou started, still trying to make sense of the situation. "I have this feeling that he's probably out and just doesn't want to be bothered, and didn't go to the Digital World since that would be the first place anyone would look for him. Didn't Sora-kun mention earlier how down Koushirou's mood has been?"

"But _some_one should let Izumi-senpai know that his parents are worrying over him!"

"Did either of you send him a message? He probably has his D-Terminal or phone with him." Miyako nodded. "Hm, well if that's the case, I'm sure he'll go home eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if he was home already. He probably got caught up someplace."

"I hope you're right," Sora quietly responded.

"I probably am," responded Jou confidently. "I would stay here and talk more, but I have to leave soon and I wanted to finish studying up on this material before heading off to juku."

"Wow…senpai studies so much…" Daisuke cringed. He wasn't the best student in school, but going to a cram school was something he'd never even remotely considered. The same went for the others, Koushirou included. Neither had a desire to attend a cram school and felt regular school was enough.

"If I want to make excellent scores, I must go to seminars, lectures, and juku so that I can take practice exams to help prepare me for university. I can't spend all of my vacation goofing off, and I definitely can't worry myself over Koushirou.

"It's like I said, I'm sure he'll go home when he feels he's ready. He probably wanted some time to himself. I already spent a little bit of time from my studies by going to the party Sora-kun had on Sunday and then the karaoke gathering that Mimi-kun had before th-"

"Yeah, something you need to do more often," a person interrupted, joining the tall math whiz at the door.

"Eijiro, you know I have to study for my practice exams."

"A break wouldn't hurt, you know," said the girl, who had gone to join Eijiro. "Maybe we _should_ help them look for your friend."

"Who's missing again?" asked Eijiro.

"Izumi Koushirou. He's the one I introduced you two to last week. He's the redheaded one."

"Oh! The one who's in the same year as that cutie, Mimi-chan?"

Jou sighed and shook his head over how Eijiro acted whenever a pretty girl was involved. In some ways, age just didn't matter much, although, granted, two years wasn't _that_ much of an age difference. "Yes, the one in the same year and class as Mimi-kun…"

"Well then, we _should_ help them and go out to find Mimi-chan. I'm sure that she would appreciate being found by me."

"We are looking for _Kou_shirou, _not_ Mimi-kun!"

"Oh yeah, that's right," the boy said with a foolish smile. After getting Mimi off his mind, partially, he noticed Iori, Hikari, Daisuke, and Takeru. "Wait, who _are_ you guys, anyway?"

"I'm sorry for being rude, Eijiro-san, Malissa-san," Sora apologized. "This is Yagami Hikari-chan. She is the younger sister of Taichi."

Hikari smiled sweetly. "Hello."

"The person beside her is Takaishi Takeru-kun, and he is the younger brother of Yamato-kun, the one you met the other night."

"Hi."

"Hm, so you're Ishida's brother?" Takeru nodded. "Do you sing too?"

He shook his head. "My brother seems to have all of the musical talent. I prefer playing basketball, sports, and video games."

"Hey, how come your name is Takaishi, but your brother's name is Ishida?"

"Eijiro!"

"What? I want to know!"

Jou held his head. "You are way too blunt, you know..."

"Jou-san, it's okay," Takeru told him. "My parents are divorced. My brother lives with our father and I live with our mother."

"Satisfied?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Eijiro muttered.

Sora pointed to the short, dark-haired boy. "Erm, well, um, next, is Hida Iori-kun. He is a good friend of Miyako-chan and lives in the same building as she and Takeru-kun. He also studies Kendo under the instruction of his grandfather."

He bowed. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"This is Motomiya Daisuke. He is a good friend of the Yagami family, and is part of the Odaiba Elementary Soccer Club. He's a very good player, and trains hard."

"Hey!" the boy cheered.

"He is very energetic," Malissa smiled. She liked Daisuke already. He gave off a very friendly vibe.

"Yes, he is," Sora said with a small laugh. "He always keeps you alert."

"Nice to meet you all. My name is Tezuka Eijiro and this is our friend, Malissa Smith."

"Hello everyone," Malissa said to them.

"Tezuka Eijiro-san?"

"Yes, that's my name…Iori was it?"

He nodded. "Are you related to an aqua-haired girl by the name of Tezuka Eiji-san who goes to Odaiba Elementary? She is in year 5."

"Yeah, that sounds like my younger cousin."

"So _you're_ the older cousin that she often speaks of. After we ran into Mimi-san yesterday afternoon, she mentioned that she had met a boy with the same family name as Eiji-san. After that, Eiji-san went on to speak very highly of you and how you are a wise person. She respects you a lot, Tezuka-san."

"Call me Eijiro. Like I say to everyone, no need to be formal. I don't do formalities all that well. As for my cousin, she's definitely sharp. She's always been like a younger sister to me, and we get along well."

"That is what she said as well; she also said-"

"Okay, enough with the introductions, we should go search for Izumi-senpai!"

"S-sorry," both Iori and Eijiro bashfully apologized.

"I still think you should leave him alone and let Koushirou come home when he feels he's ready to."

"No way! If Izumi-senpai knew how worried his parents were, he would've been back by now!"

"Please help us, Jou-san. We could use the extra help," Iori requested.

"Onegai shimasu," pleaded Hikari.

The older boy couldn't take it. Hikari's pleading look just got to him. "Okay, okay, I'll help you, but because of the time, I'm not going to be able to leave and go along with you. I have juku a little over an hour from now."

"Okay, fair enough," Taichi agreed.

"First of all, where would he go?" the older boy asked.

"That's an easy one, his computer."

"_Thank_ you Sherlock!" Miyako responded sarcastically while shaking her head at Daisuke.

"Well, it's true! Koushirou-san has a lot of friends on the Internet!" the goggleboy retorted.

"But Daisuke-kun, if that were the case, he would be at home, and then we wouldn't have to search for him," Hikari told him gently.

"Maybe Daisuke-kun is onto something, though. Koushirou-san _could_ have his laptop computer with him," Takeru pointed out.

"Could we try sending him an e-mail, maybe?" Iori suggested.

"I mentioned earlier that I sent him an e-mail, but I checked a while before you caught us at school and Izumi-senpai still hadn't returned a message."

"Oh yeah, you did say that earlier…" Iori said.

"What else does your friend like to do aside from surfing on the Internet?" asked Malissa.

Everyone looked in Miyako's direction. "What? Why are you all looking at me?"

"You _do_ hang around him the most compared to everyone else here," Daisuke said.

"And Mimi-chan has a lot lately too, but she isn't here to ask so…"

"…what else does Koushirou like to do that you know of?" Taichi finished up.

"I honestly don't know. He could like almost anything and I just don't know it. It's like Daisuke said, he has a lot of Internet friends, but as for interests, aside from the Digital World and how it works, I don't know."

"The _Di_gital World?" asked Malissa and Eijiro.

"Erm…um…it's a game he works on in his free time when not doing sound mixing with me for the Teen-Age Wolves' concerts," Miyako added on quickly, surprised that she'd forgotten to not mention such a thing around those who knew nothing of the place.

"Maybe he went to the library," Jou said.

"We're looking for Koushirou, not you."

"The Yagami guy has got you there, Jou," Eijiro laughed. "If _you_ ever turned up missing, that would be the first place we'd start looking, or either that cram school you go to. It's one of the best in the area."

"Well, I don't know what else to suggest. I don't know him as well as you do. I don't really get to see you all much anymore."

Sora sighed. "Jou-senpai is right."

"I guess coming here was of no help," Miyako muttered in annoyance.

"We are sorry to have troubled you, Jou-san."

"That's okay, Iori-kun. I didn't mind. At least you had a good reason for coming over. You guys were worried and wanted some help. Koushirou is our friend, so no worries." He then smiled to the group. "Ah, I've just come up with something that you all could do!" Everyone leaned in to hear what the older, wiser boy had to say. "Go home, and hope everything goes well by studying!"

Everyone in Taichi's group nearly fell from the response. "That's the _best_ advice you can _give_?" Taichi groaned.

"It's the end of the semester! We don't have anything _to_ study! Hikari-chan, Takeru, and I are going to Odaiba Junior High and that's a public school and we don't have any entrance exams to take!"

"Daisuke-kun, it's never too soon to start preparing for your high school and university entrance exams." Jou was sounding a lot wiser than he usually did. "There are lots of practice exams you can buy and take to help you prepare for the real thing, and of course, you can always ask me or some other students to help prepare for your exams, and furthermore-"

"Erm, I think we should go. Jou-san will be late for his cram school if we hold him up any longer," Takeru interrupted, not wanting to hear another one of his lectures about the importance of homework and studying.

"All of your talk about studying is too much for me," Taichi stated bluntly.

"Well, I'm just planning ahead for my future," Jou told them seriously. "I can't really worry over something like Koushirou being missing when it's obvious he's not, to me. Everyone deserves to have _some_ time away from their families. You see that I live by myself. I wanted to get away from my mother and father's influences and pick my own path, just like my brothers did. In a way, it's probably similar as to why Mimi-kun came back to Odaiba. She wanted her independence and to get away from her parents for a while. That's what I always figured, anyway, from the things she's said."

"Jou-senpai, are you saying that Koushirou-kun has gone off in search of a newer place to live to get away from everyone?"

"Not really, but I am saying that he probably just wanted to get away for a while to be alone. I disagree with his missing school to do it, even though, at this time of the year, you probably don't have too many assignments and focused more on preparing for the first years and the exiting third years, but that _is_ what I think. He doesn't strike me as the type who would do something like that without his parents knowing."

"Well, if Jou-san feels that it is a good idea not to try searching for Koushirou-san, then I guess we will have to be hopeful and wait for his return."

"At least Iori-kun agrees with me. Just go home. I'm sure he'll probably be back later on this evening, but anything longer, _then_ I'd start to worry."

The others finally agreed how there wasn't much they could do. Koushirou had, obviously, covered his tracks well, and neither of them had no idea _where_ to start looking for him, or knew if he'd met up with maybe an online buddy.

Miyako still found the situation strange, and very unlike Koushirou, just as the others did, to some extent, but if neither of the others were making a big deal out of it, why should she?

x x x x

Meanwhile…

"Hm, what do you want to do since we're here?" asked Yamato. "Want to go see a movie since Cinema Mediage is nearby? There has to be something interesting playing."

"Yeah, why not. I haven't gone to see a movie since the last one Michael's father was in," Mimi said while licking on an ice cream cone. "As long as it's not violent, it's okay with me."

"Okay, let's check to see what's playing."

The two made their way over to the Mediage, trying to decide on a movie. They had spent the majority of the afternoon checking out the many stores there, and window shopping. Yamato wasn't the type to window shop, but he figured if it made Mimi feel any better, it was worth it. The two had had a small dinner too, and Mimi made sure to inform her family that she was getting a bite out. Yamato had offered to pay for Mimi's meal, but she refused, and paid for herself, but she did allow him to buy her the soft-serve. Mimi was really enjoying the time she was spending with Yamato and wouldn't have traded it awy for anything.

Yamato's main intent was to get Mimi's mind off of a certain redheaded boy, and to get the attention more on himself. He found it strange that Mimi, lately, had been so concerned over him. Surprisingly, the older, handsome, and popular, blonde was a little envious of the younger, not as popular, redhead, and all of the attention that Mimi had seemed to be giving him lately. Everyone close to the two had noticed it, though subtle, even be_fore_ they were assigned to work together on the history project. Yamato didn't know what it was about Mimi, lately, that had drawn him to her. Maybe it was the way she'd matured over the years, or her bubbly, optimistic personality.

It took a while, but the two had finally decided on a film. Before going to pay for the tickets, Mimi stopped him.

"What's wrong?"

"Yamato-san…"

"Yeah?"

"I want to thank you for doing all of these kind things for me today."

He gave off a nervous laugh. "It's no problem, Mimi. I was glad to do it. That's what friends are for."

"I'm so glad." A nervous look now crept up onto _her_ face. "I never realized how interesting you were."

"What?"

"No wait," she ignored the melting cone in her hand, while giving off an embarrassed laugh, "that's not what I meant. I mean, well…I don't know _what_ I mean. I'm just glad that you're one of my good friends, and even gladder that you asked me to be your partner for the dance this Saturday."

"I'm glad that I did too and your ice cream is melting."

"Oh no!" Mimi gulped down the remaining bits of her ice cream, realizing her hand was a mess. She handed her book bag to Yamato. "I need to clean this up. I'll be right back." The girl made her way to the nearest public restroom to clean herself up. Once done, she met back up with Yamato.

"All done?"

"Yeah, let's go get a ticket for the movie."

The two were about to enter the theater, when they saw a couple of policemen walking around, questioning people. They noticed that the majority of the people they were going around and talking to were round about their age.

"I wonder what's going on…"

"Who knows," Mimi shrugged.

One of the policemen spotted the duo, and made his way over to them. "Hello there," the stocky man greeted.

"Hello officer," the two greeted back politely.

"My partner and I were wondering if you were students of Odaiba Junior High School. You look like you're about the right age, and if I'm not mistaken, that's the school's uniform, right?" The two nodded anxiously. The two had never had an officer approach them in this fashion before. It was almost like they were looking for them specifically, both felt. "Hey, I found some students from Odaiba Junior High," he called to his slim partner.

"That's great!" his partner responded while making his way over.

"Excuse me, officer, but what's going on? We have a movie to catch," Yamato explained.

"Please excuse our rudeness, but we are going to all of the spots where young people hang out," the policeman who had first approached the two informed them. "We are looking for a student from your school."

"I am Officer Noboru and this is my partner, Officer Mitsuo. We are only searching around for Odaiba Junior High School students, even though it's showing to be tough since most have probably already gone home and changed or either still at school, but we were lucky to see you here. We will widen and broaden our search later if it turns out to be necessary."

"R-right…" Yamato answered slowly.

Mimi held her stomach, as she was growing pretty tense. She had this gut feeling that these police officials were going to say something that she wouldn't want to hear, but she still tried to remain optimistic, hopeful, and enthusiastic. "Who's the person you're looking for, sir?"

"The student is a boy in year 2. You may know him," said Officer Mitsuo. "Oh, I've forgotten his name again."

"His given name was a common one, but the family name was kind of unique..." Officer Noboru said, while trying to recall it as well. He dug through his pocket and pulled out a small notepad. "Oh yes, his name was Izumi Koushirou. He is in class 2-B at Odaiba Junior High School and head of the school's Computer Club."

"Koushirou!" both teens gasped.

"Good, you two _do_ know him," Officer Mitsuo said in relief.

"What's wrong with him?" Mimi asked in alarm. "What's happened to him?"

"Please settle down young lady. We just have reason to believe that he has run away, and we're asking his fellow classmates of places where he could have gone."

"Do you know where this Izumi Koushirou-san could be?" asked Officer Noboru.

"You mean he hasn't gone home yet?" Yamato asked in surprise. The two shook their heads. "Koushirou didn't come to school today either…weird."

"This just _has_ to be a runaway case or either he just decided not to go to school," complained Officer Mitsuo. "His family phoned early this afternoon after the school informed his parents that he hadn't come in."

"No, Koushirou-kun wouldn't do that! He isn't like that!"

"Yeah, we've known him for years. He _wouldn't_ do that."

"Then could you tell us where he is so that we all can go home and have something to report back to his family?"

Mimi looked down at the ground, and shook her head dismally. "I don't know," she said quietly to Officer Mitsuo.

"Since he hasn't been missing for a full day yet I'm still going to assume that he either ran away on his own or either he spent the day with friends, and lost track of the time."

His partner agreed. "That's what I think happened to him too, but we were ordered by our superior to look for him, so let's just continue our search."

"I hope that boy comes back soon," Noboru slightly griped.

"You know that they're probably taking this seriously because of who he is."

"Definitely, because any other time they would have followed the correct procedure and protocol if it had been anyone else."

The two officers thanked the two teens for their time, and walked off, asking another teen if he knew Koushirou or of his where-a-bouts.

Yamato was wondering what Officer Mitsuo meant with the statement he'd made about why everyone was out looking for Koushirou in the first place, or why his case was being treated in such a special way. His curiosity on the matter didn't last too long, as he noticed the look on Mimi's face and how she was getting worried. It almost reminded him of when she had left their group when on their first adventure going against the Dark Masters, since she didn't want to see any more pain, suffering, or deaths of friends, based on what Takeru had told him. He wasn't sure if they should continue with the movie or not and he wasn't sure if she would even be up to it, due to the distraction. He didn't want to come across as selfish, but at the same time, he was slightly annoyed over the fact that she was always worrying over Koushirou, and felt that she'd been doing so far too much and far too often lately. He understood that it's good to worry about a friend, but to him, it almost seemed like more than that.

'Either Mimi knows something about him that we all don't, or either she likes him more than she's letting on…'

"Yamato-san," Mimi started slowly, "I'm sorry, but I have to go!"

"So you don't want to go to the movie?"

"No, I'm sorry, but I'm going to look for Koushirou!"

"But nobody knows where he is," he pointed out. 'I wonder if he went to the Digital World. It would explain why no one has seen him. Aside from us, no one would think to look there.'

"That doesn't matter. There's something wrong. I just know it and I can _feel_ it! I've been feeling this way since I left his place this morning. He's been very moody and down lately. He hasn't even randomly mentioned lately the theory discussions that he has with his online buddies. It seems that Miyako-chan, Taichi-san, and I can get him out of that state, and actually get him to crack a smile whenever he does seem like he's down, even if he doesn't show that side of himself often."

"Don't you think you're worrying a bit _too_ much, though? You should really calm yourself over him. Who knows, maybe the others have found him or know where he is now. I forgot to turn my phone back on, so I can check for messages too and hope he got back with me after I sent one to him before meeting up with you earlier this afternoon."

"I really hope you're right, but I still feel this need to talk to him face to face."

Mimi started to walk away, until she felt a hand on her arm, holding her back. "Mimi, wait, don't go."

"But Koushirou-"

"You should at _least_ call one of the others to see if they know anything or if they've found him before you go running off someplace."

She looked up at him and nodded. "You're right." She pulled out her phone, turned it on to check to see if she'd received any messages from her friends. She saw she had an e-mail from Chinatsu, but chose to ignore that for now, as she was hoping that Koushirou would have, eventually, returned hers. She also saw that her voice mail box was empty. She then decided to give Miyako a call.

"Hello?"

"Miyako-chan!"

"Mimi-sama! Hi there! How was your afternoon with Yamato-san?" she asked her craftily.

"That's not important right now! I was wondering if you all found out anything about Koushirou yet."

"I'm sorry, we haven't. All of us have sent messages and e-mails to him. We do know this much, though; he isn't in the Digital World. Gennai-san told us that. Hikari-chan and the others contacted him and none of the Digimon have heard from him, even Tentomon, but like Gennai-san predicted, Tentomon is terribly worried and wants to open up a gate to our world to look for him."

"A couple of police officers just talked with Yamato-san and me asking where he was. There's a missing person's report out on him!"

"We were hoping you wouldn't find out about that…" the younger girl muttered.

"What?"

"I mean, we were hoping to find him before the police did!" She laughed uneasily. "It's almost like we're talking about a criminal here."

"Well, if you all haven't found him, then I plan to."

"But oneesama…"

"My mind is made up! I'm not returning home until Koushirou's search is over!"

Miyako smiled. This was one of the things she actually admired most about Mimi. "Good luck! I wish I could go with you, but I can't leave now."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine."

"I still wish I could help, though. My mother won't let me go back out since I came in later than I would usually. I almost missed dinner since we went to visit Jou-senpai." She inwardly smiled. 'At least it wasn't a complete waste. I _did_ manage to see my sister's mystery date.'

"You went to see Jou-senpai?"

"We were hoping that he could help us, but he pretty much told us not to worry and to go home and study and how Izumi-senpai will come home in his own time."

Mimi laughed in spite of herself. "That's Jou-senpai for you."

"Well, good luck again from me, and please threaten Izumi-senpai for making all of us worry. He even worried people that don't know him as well as we all do."

Determined, Mimi responded, "I _definitely_ will!"

While Mimi was on the phone, Yamato was checking his phone for messages too. He saw he had some from those in his band, one from Sora, one from Taichi, one from Takeru, and even one from Jou, surprisingly. He checked Jou's e-mail first. Jou was asking if he'd seen Koushirou, because he was approached by the police when on the way to his cram school and was starting to feel a bit unnerved given the time, despite the front he'd put on for the others earlier. The messages from Sora and Taichi were pretty similar, about how they hadn't heard anything from Koushirou and how, according to Gennai, he definitely wasn't in the Digital World. Same for Takeru, who went on to say that he and Daisuke had sent an e-mail to Ken to see if he'd heard from him.

Before he could even consider responding to either of the messages, Mimi put her phone away and told him all that Miyako had said. "I'm going to look for him."

Yamato was a little frustrated over the entire ordeal. He wanted Koushirou home like everyone else, but not enough to want to go out and look for him. "Maybe he doesn't _want_ to be found," he told the younger girl darkly.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly as I said it. Maybe he doesn't _want_ to be found," he repeated. "He seems to have covered his tracks well."

"But..."

"Do you remember when Sora disappeared on us before we separated after Taichi and MetalGreymon were taken back to our world after the defeat of Etemon? I pretty much said the same thing then, and it was actually true. _I _can even relate to it. I did the same thing. That's why I left the group; I had to do things on my own and work things out on my own before I could face you all again."

"But this is different! He's worrying his _parents_ now! That's not like him at all! Sora-san, at the time, leaving us to go in search of Taichi-san was normal for a person like her, and she was also protecting all of us from behind the scenes. She did that for the sake of all of us…for the love she had for all of us.

"With what you were going through, you did leave at first, but then came back, even though you were fighting against Taichi-san, but after you received the answers you wanted, you _told_ us that you were going to leave again. You didn't want us to worry and wanted us to let you go on your own path. You wanted to improve yourself so that you could strengthen your friendship with all of us.

"Koushirou is different from both you and Sora-san. He's not as open as the two of you are. He may internalize his feelings sometimes since he hates to be a bother to anyone, I feel, but he still wouldn't run away! If he wanted to get his mind off of something that's bothering him, then he would probably find something to do to rid himself of those feelings or to work through them. Sometimes he may talk about them, sometimes he won't, but this is still unlike him; even _you_ have to admit to that at least!

"I really want to find him. I'm sorry that I can't see the movie with you, but I feel that I should go. He's my friend, a very close friend."

Yamato stood there, unsure of what to say, or what to make of her, "very close friend" statement, but listened as Mimi continued on.

"We may not share all of the same interests, like how he likes to learn all that he can about all the subjects that highly interest him, while I like learning new songs to sing for karaoke, but we can _still_ talk to each other." She bawled up her small hands into fists of determination. "I have to go find him, and I'm not going to return until I do!"

Mimi started to walk off, which was quite surprising, since for the past few days, she hated to go anyplace alone. As she was walking away, she realized that she wasn't alone, and saw a tall blonde boy right by her side.

"I can't let you run off alone now, can I?"

"Yamato-san…"

"It doesn't matter if we can't see the movie together. Our friend is more important."

Mimi's eyes welled up with tears, and she hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much, Yamato-san!" she cried.

He hugged her back in surprise, especially since this came across as one of younger Takeru's, "I'm glad you're back oniichan" cries and hugs. "What for?"

She let go and wiped away some of her tears. "For understanding how important my friendship with Koushirou is to me."

"He's my friend too," Yamato reminded her, "but you're welcome."

"Well, we better get going."

"But where do you think he could be that no one else has thought to look? The others already said that he wasn't in the Digital World and that was confirmed by Gennai himself."

She started to think for a moment, reflecting back on past conversations the two of them have had that could maybe be a clue for them. It took her a while, but something _finally_ came to mind. She gave Yamato the victory sign and shouted out, "Bingo!"

"What? What?"

"I think I know where he could be!" Mimi exclaimed. "I'm so _stupid_! Why didn't I think of this earlier! I'm surprised _Miyako_-chan didn't think of this since she's in the club and I know he's worked on some while in it! He _has_ to be there! He always talks about it! It's one of his favorite things to do whenever we have school vacations when his family doesn't travel!"

"Where? Where did he go?"

"Yamato-san, we have to get going!"

"But-"

"Oh, I know the buses run around here! We have to get to Shinagawa-ku…"

Mimi grabbed Yamato's arm and started to pull him along, who could barely keep up with the determined young girl.

"Go _where_! The Shinagawa ward is technically on the outskirts of Odaiba! It's actually outside of Odaiba, even if it _is_ close!" He noticed that she was pretty much ignoring him. "_Mi_mi!"

'I'm coming, Koushirou, just don't leave until I get there!'

Fic Chapter Changes

First change…in the very beginning, I had "RP" and "Koushirou" discussing. Koushirou was curious over where the story was going, and was wondering why the author was writing him in the way that she was. Wasn't important, just poking fun and pointing out the irony of how Koushirou's Search had become a literal search for Koushirou.

I added in Eijiro's query on why Yamato and Takeru had different names if they were brothers. This is something else I wanted in here originally, just forgot to do so.

I added in that Yamato and _everyone_ had tried contacting Koushirou. Originally, I only had Miyako try which seemed off anyway, given that Miyako isn't his only friend. I had that all were concerned enough to message him, and this is including Jou who was only trying to act all confident in front of the younger ones, and became slightly distraught after they had left. I also added in Yamato receiving messages from the others.

The reference to Sora that both Yamato and Mimi made was in here originally, I just expanded on it (pointing out the love thing), but the stuff about Yamato I didn't originally, and decided to toss that in. Made sense to, since Yamato did do just that. He had to focus on himself as a way to better himself. Either way, Mimi's speech for that part was extended and a bit more dramatic, I guess.

Mentioned an actual place this time. Originally, I just had Mimi say "the outskirts of Odaiba".


	25. 25 Found

Hi again everyone. If you're still reading this, give yourself a standing ovation along with a round of applause! You all have finally made it to this chapter, where Koushirou will definitely be found, and also find out why he didn't send messages back to the others right away. I hope you enjoy this chapter, though. I don't expect there to be any author's notes (or either maybe one or two at the most), but this chapter will _definitely _have some changes and I'm wondering if I should even mention most of them. One change though is where Koushirou was…somewhat.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 25: The End of Koushirou's Search!

"Yes, I'm still out with Yamato-san," Mimi told her aunt over her mobile phone. "I promise to hurry home as soon as I can…okay…g'bye." She closed up her phone. "Okay, everything is all set. We're finally ready to go."

Yamato, who was still unsure of _what_ was going through his younger friend's mind, asked, "Mimi, _where_ are we going?"

"To find Koushirou of course. I think I know where he is!" she told him as matter of fact like. 'He just _has_ to be there! I _really_ hope I'm right. I can only think of one place he'd be!'

The two were waiting around for the next bus. Mimi had looked up the route on her phone and saw that the buses of the Toei line on route 1 stopped there.

"Mimi, will you _please_ calm down and tell me where we're going?"

"I told you, to find Koushirou!"

Yamato kept his cool, as her vague response to his question was growing tiresome for him. "But why are we going so far out to do it? The only thing I can think of that's in that area is Shiokaze Park."

"Because _that's_ where he probably is…"

"Huh?" He shook his head in defeat. "Never mind, I'm not going to ask anything else. I'll go along with what you're assuming, but I still don't understand why we have to go that far out to look for him in a place where he's most likely not going to be."

The bus finally showed up, and both hopped on, Mimi being more fired up than ever to find her redheaded friend…

x x x x

A short while after Miyako had spoken with Mimi, she noticed something going on with her D-Terminal. The mail icon was blinking. She checked it to see that it was a response from Koushirou. He had pretty much answered all of her queries, including the incident in the computer lab that morning, but avoided answering her main question.

~x~x~x~

Miyako-kun,

I'm glad that you're not mad at me for how rude I was. I am truly sorry about that. I also noticed that you sent me another e-mail.

Yes, it's true. I did miss school. I had a few things to do today. When I return, I do not know, but please don't worry about me or where I am. I will return sooner or later. I just had to work out some things that no one could help me with and I know that both you and Mimi-san are anxious to help and Taichi-san would've insisted, if he knew.

As for the handcuffed man you mentioned, that had to have been a sight worth seeing; a person handcuffed to a computer lab chair. I'm sure our vice principal didn't find the incident too amusing at all. I have no idea who the culprit was who could have handcuffed him to the chair. I am sure that whoever did so is long gone by now, especially if the man who was handcuffed says he doesn't remember neither the person's name or identity, like you mentioned.

~Koushirou~

~x~x~x~

'So Jou-senpai was right. He just wanted to be by himself today.'

The girl responded to the e-mail, and explained how he should have let someone know what his plans were for the day, how he shouldn't have run off without letting someone know, and also decided to randomly mention Mimi's "date" with Yamato. She made sure not to mention that Mimi was currently looking for him, fearing that he may run off from wherever it was he was hiding out.

She received a response almost immediately.

~x~x~x~

Miyako-kun,

If I had told you or anybody else, you all would have probably tried to stop me from leaving today. I really needed this time to myself. Please, do not worry about me. I will return home soon. I have finally made my decision.

Mimi-san is spending the evening with Yamato-san? I thought their "date" wasn't supposed to be until Saturday's dance. Isn't that just a bit odd?

~Koushirou~

~x~x~x~

'His decision? What decision is that? I wonder what he's talking about…'

She put her D-Terminal down, and was tempted to stop messaging him, since he obviously wasn't going to let her know why he had disappeared for the day or where he had disappeared to. She changed her mind, and sent him a message back…

~x~x~x~

Koushirou-san,

Yes, Mimi-san is spending the entire evening with Yamato-san. They went out for a bite to eat, I think, and then I think they were going to either see a movie or go out for karaoke. It's a real date even if they won't admit it! Isn't that romantic of Yamato-san? He asked her out this morning when she got to school! ^_^

Anyway, what was the decision that you had to make?

~Miyako~

~x~x~x~

Her D-Terminal pinged. She opened it up to read the next message.

~x~x~x~

Miyako-kun,

What is so romantic about an outing between friends? I'm surprised that she's spending the evening with Yamato-san. He's never really given her that type of attention before; I wonder why he would start now. He usually has band practice on Thursdays, as we both know. In a way, seems he would already have a female companion, as there are many girls in the area who would love to spend time with him, and also-

~x~x~x~

Miyako continued to read through Koushirou's partially mild rant. At the end of the message, Koushirou apologized once again and mentioned that he was leaving and that he'd talk to her more later.

She closed up her D-Terminal and frowned. He had managed to do it yet again…cause her to feel slight envy towards Mimi. He went on so much for his obvious, though subtle, dislike of Mimi's spending the evening with Yamato that she'd grown incredibly bothered.

She just didn't understand Koushirou at times. First he would act like he had no outside interests, then he comes across as a jealous boyfriend whenever it came to boys hanging around Mimi that were an actual threat, which was rare, but never to this extent.

She headed to her room, and slammed the door shut behind her in frustration, slight anger, and annoyance. She then plopped herself down onto her bed, pulling out a diary, recording the events of another day which involved Koushirou's annoying her with the way he seemed to inadvertently glorify Mimi and ignore her, totally dismissing the fact that Koushirou hadn't answered her second question _or_ that he was planning on leaving wherever it was he had messaged her from…

x x x x

Round about the time Miyako had finished writing out her long rant in her diary…

"Wake up, Mimi," Yamato said while shaking her gently.

"Huh, what?" She had fallen asleep on the blonde's shoulder for the somewhat short bus ride, as they weren't too far away since they were in Aqua City. Yamato was surprised she'd dozed off for such a short ride. "Great," she smiled, "we're here."

While Mimi had been sleeping during the ride, Yamato had spent the majority of it staring down at her, trying to figure her out, and why he actually had developed a slight attraction towards her. "What's so special about Koushirou that makes her so concerned for him?" was what he kept asking himself for the duration of the ride. He didn't have too much against that, since they were all friends anyway and concern for a friend is only natural, but Mimi's concern seemed to almost go beyond that to the bass player.

The two stepped off at the Daiba bus stop, while a few people boarded it. The bus then pulled off, leaving a cloud of exhaust behind. No one had exited the bus with them. "We don't have too much time here. The next bus to come through will be in about 10 minutes, and the one after that, 40 minutes," Yamato told the girl. "It's about 20:20 (8:20) now. Looks like the bus was ahead of schedule."

"I'm positive that Koushirou's here. Let's go!"

"Go _where_? There's nothing here but the usual stuff you find in parks."

"We have to walk to get to where we're going. Follow me. We have to get to the northern part of the park." Mimi took off, leading the way. Yamato, curiously, followed behind her.

A walk through the park was nice, but he truly wished it had been under differing circumstances. The two continued the trek, passing by the many trees that surrounded the area. After what seemed like an eternity, given how quiet Mimi was since she was focusing on her destination, to Yamato, they finally arrived at a clearing. "Here we are!" Mimi announced.

Yamato looked up to see a large, almost cylinder-like building, overlooking the area. It was about a kilometer (about 1/2 mile) away from their current spot. "What _is_ that place?"

"That's the Odaiba Research Observatory Lab, which is a branch of the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation."

"Why do you think Koushirou is there?"

"Because I do."

"Ehehe," he started to massage his temples in frustration due to the fact that Mimi actually sounded innocent and pure with her response with no hints of sarcasm, "would you mind explaining that a _bit_ more thoroughly?"

"Sure. *Koushirou likes to study star charts and constellations. He's told me that during his school vacations, when his family doesn't travel anyplace, that he's always enjoyed going to the museum because they have really good computer equipment. He's been going there for years and has had the Computer Club do projects for the workers here. I can't remember who, but one of the people there showed him star charts and constellations, and you know how Koushirou gets when he learns something new that he finds interesting…he wants to learn all that he can about it. The observatory's computers can look up constellations and map out star charts much better than Koushirou can with his laptop and desktop computers.

"Anyway, the museum opened up this small branch here to focus only on astronomical projects and is probably another reason why the place is so isolated and a little secluded here, so they won't have to worry about being disturbed or bothered much. I don't think this place gets many tourists, not like the museum, but you can come here if you have special permission, and I think Koushirou has special permission to visit here since he's been going since he was a kid.

"I don't understand all of that technical stuff much, but that's what he likes. It surprised me a little, but I was really happy when he shared that with me." Her cheeks flushed slightly after saying that. Yamato noticed and arched an eyebrow up at her suspiciously. "See that area there? That's where the super powerful telescope comes out," Mimi pointed, while regaining her composure. She inwardly smiled. 'Maybe Koushirou wants a comet named after him.' She found the whole idea of that cute.

"Let's go check it out, then. We don't want to get stuck here."

"Right, let's go!"

The two ran towards the big, isolated building. "What makes you think that he'd be here now?" Yamato asked during the sprint.

"The best time to come is at night when all of the stars are out and are a bit easier to see when not using the telescope and the computers, and just observing by eye, I guess. He's told me that he likes to come here during summer nights at times. Like I mentioned earlier, he's pretty good friends with the research guys who work here. I think he said he's been coming here since he was about seven."

The two finally made it to the big door of the observatory. Mimi knocked, the sound of the knock echoing all throughout it. There seemed to be no one around _to_ answer, but she decided to try knocking again.

"I hope somebody answers soon," Yamato grumbled while looking down at his watch. "We're running out of time."

It took a while longer, but the big creaky door finally opened. A tall, balding man who looked to be in his mid to late 40s wearing a white lab coat answered it. "I'm sorry, children, but we're closing up. If you had a special pass to tour, you'll have to come back either tomorrow or some other time."

"No, wait!" Mimi called before the man could close the door. "We don't want a tour Mr….um…um…"

"*Nagare. Nagare Boshi."

Yamato blinked in stupidity. 'Na-nagare…Bo…shi?' His left eye twitched. 'Are you _kid_ding me? What the _hell_ kind of name is Nagare Boshi for a _person_? Mimi doesn't find his name strange? His name is a _pun_! A really _bad_ pun! Is it even his _real_ name? What the hell _is_ he? Some kind of undercover spy hiding out with a fake alias?'

"Nagare-senpai, we're looking for someone; a friend of ours."

The boy nearly fell over, his left eye twitching even more. 'Sh-she...isn't questioning it...what the hell...'

"You're looking for someone? I might be able to help you, but if you are looking for one of my fellow researchers, they've all left for the day. I'm the only one still here, but I'll be leaving soon too."

"Have you seen Izumi Koushirou-san?"

"You know, as a matter of fact, I have. He spent the entire day here. That was a first for him for this time of year. I didn't really ask questions since I trust him. How come you two are looking for him?"

"We're classmates and good friends of his," a calmed-down Yamato glanced over at Mimi, "and we had a feeling that he would be here."

"Well, he left a good while ago."

"_Damn_, we missed him! All of that trouble to find him, and we _miss_ him."

"I offered to give him a ride back to Odaiba, but he said not to bother, which was a little surprising. I usually always end up driving him back home or either he joins my family at times. He's pretty good friends with my two Pocket Monster loving daughters, *Sutaa and Mi. They talk online a lot, I think."

'What's with all these strange names? What kind of a name is Sutaa?' Yamato ignored it, and crossed his arms. "Man, where could Koushirou be?"

"He could be at the beach. I've noticed how he sometimes goes there after he visits here if the weather is okay and then goes back home on his own."

Both were surprised to hear that Koushirou was probably at the beach, and the only one that was actually close to them was Odaiba Beach Park, but Yamato was very _very_ skeptical, *especially since one couldn't swim in the waters of Odaiba Beach. Seemed like a waste to even go there, unless riding around in the water taxi, but only tourists and foreigners bothered to do that.

Since the station was nearby, Mimi suggested that they take the train, even though Yamato felt that another mode of transportation would've worked out better, like Mr. Nagare's driving them there, since he had offered. It took a little bit of persuasion, but Mimi and Yamato _finally_ took Mr. Nagare up on his offer, and let him drive them back into Odaiba. Mimi stared out the window as they crossed the Rainbow Bridge, looking out at the choppy water, hoping that Koushirou was definitely near them.

"This is as close as I can get," Mr. Nagare told the two as he pulled up to the park's entrance.

"That's okay. Thank you very much. Yamato-san and I truly appreciate it."

"Yes, thanks a lot, Professor Nagare," Yamato commented dryly, still unable to get over the man's unusual name.

"It was my pleasure. I hope you find Izumi-kun, and please tell him 'thanks again' for helping out today."

The man pulled off, and the two of them ran down to the beach area. After a while of looking along the shores, they, surprisingly, saw in the distance, a young, redheaded boy sitting, staring up at the sky, taking in the nice, gentle breeze.

"Koushirou…"

"I can't believe it; he's _actually_ here," Yamato whispered in amazement. "I'm sorry I started doubting you earlier. If we hadn't gone to that observatory, we would've never known that he was here."

"That's okay. When Nagare-senpai answered the door and told us how he was alone, I was starting to doubt myself too."

"Come on, let's go get him." He was about to run towards his young friend, when Mimi stopped him. "We've found him, thanks to...Professor Nagare," Yamato vowed to question Koushirou on the man's name when he got the chance, "and now we can take him home and end everyone's worrying. Why don't you want me to go get him?"

"Because something's wrong…"

"What do you mean? If we don't hurry up and get him, we might miss the train," he began, and adding as an afterthought, "even though we _could_ just wait around for the next one."

"Wait, let me talk with him first, and then we'll leave."

"Yeah, whether Koushirou wants to or not!"

"No, only if he chooses to come along. We should respect that and let him make his own decision. It's his choice."

"_What_? That doesn't make any sense!" She gave him a look. To Yamato, it almost looked as if she wanted to laugh over the irony of his words. "Okay, that _does_ sound like something I would say, but I don't think that should really apply in this situation…"

"Yamato-san, please wait here."

Mimi made her way down the beach towards Koushirou. Yamato stayed behind and just watched her. He wasn't sure what to make of Mimi's unusual, in his mind, fondness of Koushirou.

Koushirou neither noticed nor sensed someone coming up behind him. He just sat there, staring out at the sea and the sky, deep in thought, every once in a while, glancing over in the direction of the lit up Rainbow Bridge, while listening to the calm, crashing waves of the manmade sea. It was very soothing and relaxing to him, as it allowed him to forget about any problems he could've been facing.

"It sure is nice out tonight, isn't it?" a light voice giggled.

Startled, by the voice interrupting his gloomy thoughts, he turned to around to see…

"_Mimi_-san?"

She smiled and sat down beside him. "I just _love_ going to beach, and my favorite time going was when my family went to Hawaii one year during my spring vacation." She stretched. "It's especially nice at this time of night, and is the best place to go to get away from everyone too. You can run away from your problems instead of facing them that way."

"I-"

"Don't you _think_?"

"Mimi-san," he turned his head away from her; she was one of the main people he had been avoiding, due to embarrassing himself in front of her just the previous day, "why are you here? I told Miyako-kun not to worry about me and to not bother looking for me."

"She would have if she could have, though, and you not returning _any_ of my messages didn't help things. Do you know how much worry you caused today?"

He shook his head. Aside from his main friends he didn't figure it was much.

"A lot…"

"I didn't realize that my _not_ being around would cause such a tumult…"

"Tumult?"

"Hmm, a commotion."

"Well, yes, you _have_ caused quite a 'tumult'. We were all worried about you, even those in our school who aren't in our class and year because you have a reputation for always being there. The Computer Club members were _really_ worried, hoping nothing bad had happened to you. If something is bothering you, you should try finding someone to talk to, not keep it to yourself and run away. All of Odaiba is looking for you!

"Anyway, why didn't you return any of our messages? Why didn't you return any of _mine_?"

"W-well, um," his face started to go partially red, thankful that the night sky was hiding it, some, "I-I thought that-that you were kind of upset with me because of how I acted yesterday."

Mimi started to heartily laugh. Koushirou looked at her curiously. "Koushirou-kun no _baka_! I'm not upset with you! I was for a while, but I got over that long before you disappeared on all of us."

"Oh…"

"It's not good to run away. You should just talk! You have a lot of friends you can talk to! You have both Internet friends and friends you talk to away from the Internet."

"I wasn't technically running away, I just had some stuff to think over, and felt that I should do so away from everyone else." He sighed, and quietly said, "I'm not entirely sure I even_ want_ to go home after the way I acted towards my parents."

"What happened?"

"Nothing that concerns you, but lately I _have_ been having my fair share of problems with them, arguments and disagreements. I'm just not used to it. I said some things I didn't really mean, and I now know that they hate and would probably want to _really_ kick me out of the family. I have brought shame unto the Izumi family name, a name I'm not fully deserving of. I always felt this way partially, it's just official now."

"What exactly was your argument over?"

"Quite a few things, but the main cause was my sneaking off to look for something and, um, being escorted home, which embarrassed my mother." He refused to elaborate on that.

"What were you looking for?"

"I misplaced my article on my birth parents' deaths." He stared down at the sand of the beach.

"Oh, that reminds me," Mimi went through her bag and pulled out a sheet of paper, "I meant to give this to you today when you came to school, but you never showed up."

"This is my article. How did you get it?"

Before answering, Mimi moved some of her long hair from her face. The once gentle breeze had grown a bit stronger. "After I left you yesterday, I came back, but you weren't there. On my way out, I noticed something stuck onto the bottom of my shoe, and checked it out. I would have given it back to you sooner, but I did some research of my own and kept it."

Keeping his eyes locked on the article, Koushirou mumbled, "You went to Odaiba Elementary, didn't you?"

"Of course! Just because _you_ were too stubborn to go, didn't mean that I was. You deserve to know more about your mother." Koushirou remained silent, unsure of what to say. "Oh yeah, I have something else for you too." She pulled out the contents she'd received from Ms. Nagataki and handed them to him.

He studied the contents as best as he could, as the only light out was the moon's. "This is my father with a woman and a baby! Is this…no, it couldn't be…could it_ really_ be…"

"It sure is. I found someone who was close to your real mother."

"This is my…my mother?" He was still shocked at what he was seeing, and this was just the first photo of the three. "And the person she's holding is…is me?"

She nodded. "It's a family portrait. I learned that the reason we had a tough time finding a photo of your mother was because she hated taking pictures. She would agree on occasion, but it was very rare that she did. No one knows why, though."

The boy studied the photo closer and did something he hadn't done in a good while, smile. This was the first time that he had ever seen his biological mother and he was extremely happy about it. He even felt like crying a little, but did his best not to, though it was difficult.

"_Wow_, my _real_ mother. I can't believe it! My _mother_! You got this from a person who _knew_ my real mother?" He stared down at the first photo, still nearly speechless. "Wow…"

He switched to the other two photos. One consisted of Ms. Nagataki and Miki, looking to be in high school and the third photo consisted of Ms. Nagataki and Koushirou's biological parents, and all three looked to have been in their early to mid-20s at maybe a party.

"That's her friend. They grew up together, and I also found out a lot of other things, but it's getting late. Yamato-san is waiting for us."

The boy jerked his head up at the mentioning of Yamato's name. He remembered what Miyako had told him about Mimi being out on a "date" and his wondering why she would spend the evening with him.

"Yamato-san is here?"

She pointed behind her. Koushirou looked back to see Yamato standing where Mimi had left him with his arms crossed. "He didn't want me to look for you by myself."

"That was very nice of him."

"Won't you come home with us to stop everyone from worrying so much? If you won't come back for me or the rest of us, won't you _please_ come home for your parents at least? Maybe for your _mother_'s sake?"

He sat there in silence. He was planning on going home, but not right away like he had implied with Miyako, and he was also planning on being indiscreet about it.

"I suppose I _should_ be leaving now. I wouldn't want to be stuck here."

"Oh great! I'm so glad that you're going to come back on your own."

He smiled a bit, still staring down at the three photos. 'I can't believe she did this for me. I never would have imagined it.' He felt really grateful for having a friend like Mimi. 'I guess she's more serious than I realized when it came to this project…but, it seems like she was doing this more for me…'

Yamato waved to Mimi, who was pretty much urging her to hurry up. Mimi got the hint and stood up, brushing the sand from off of her skirt. She then looked down at Koushirou, and gave him a warm smile.

"Well, let's get going."

He nodded as Yamato ran down to the two, extending his hand out to Koushirou to help him up.

"Glad to see you're okay," Yamato greeted.

"A-ri-ga-to, Ya-ma-to-san," Koushirou responded slowly, accepting his offer to help him up.

"No problem, that's what friends are for," Yamato smiled to him.

Yamato looked down at his watch and then over to Koushirou and Mimi. "We have to get going if we want to get to the station nearby."

The two nodded and started to run back in the direction of the station. Mimi was the fastest of the three since she did play volleyball. She was glad that she got her exercise and had fun at the same time while playing a sport she actually enjoyed.

For the upcoming school year, Mimi was tempted to get permission to join her school's swim club. She really enjoyed swimming. The girl was thinking ahead now since she wanted to have a nice, well-rounded transcript for when she entered high school, and being in clubs always looked good, especially cultural type clubs. She just hoped she'd be allowed to and that she'd have the time to participate in swimming and volleyball.

The three finally made it to the station, bought a ticket, and headed to the train's platform.

"Good, we made it," Yamato said while trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah, even though the wait for the next train wouldn't have been too long, it's still nice that we won't have to wait."

Koushirou was quiet as he looked down at the photos Mimi had given him. He still couldn't believe what Mimi had done for him. 'Does she care about my well-being _that_ much?' Before he could answer himself, the train showed up, right on time, and the three teens boarded…

x x x x

Back at the Izumi home, only much later than when Yamato and Mimi had left Odaiba Beach with Koushirou…

"I'm sorry sir, madam, but we still haven't been able to locate your son," the policeman told the two parents.

This wasn't the news Mrs. Izumi wanted to hear, and she made sure to get that point across. "You _have_ to find him! He has _never_ been gone away from home this long, except for school excursion trips!"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Izumi, but we have searched all over Odaiba at every place where children his age usually hang out. There are no places of that nature left for us to search."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes sir. We have tried everywhere. We are planning on ceasing our search and commencing it by morning if he doesn't come back by tonight on his own."

"I can't sleep knowing that my son is out there all by himself!" sobbed Mrs. Izumi.

"Do not worry. We will do everything possible to find your son," the policeman smiled proudly. "He is a great asset to our city! A _grand_ hero!"

The two gave the officer a look, wondering what he was talking about. "Our son, a hero?" asked Mr. Izumi in bewilderment.

The policeman laughed a bit, thinking the two were joking around, pretending _not_ to know. "Of _course_ your son, Izumi Koushirou! Thanks to his quick thinking on Sunday, he helped to protect a young girl from being assaulted and possibly killed! It was a pretty good friend of his."

'Sunday?' Mr. Izumi looked over at his wife, and figured she was thinking the same thing he was. The two were putting all the pieces together. The officer noticed the looks on their faces.

"You two act as if you didn't know about it."

"Oh, of course, of course. My wife and I were just thinking of how tragic the situation could have been if it weren't for our son helping out."

Mrs. Izumi nodded quietly.

"Well, I have to get going. If you need anything else, just give us a call. You know the number. An officer will be sent by tomorrow morning to check up on you all as well." The man nodded slightly to them while tipping his hat. "G'night."

The officer left the Izumi home to get back to the station to perform his next assigned task.

"Did you _hear_ that?" Mrs. Izumi asked while still crying a bit. "He said _Sun_day!"

The man walked back to the dining room, and sat down at the table, his wife joining him. "Mimi…he _was_ covering for her…" the man realized. "You were right."

"I read about some type of an assault in the paper a few days ago, and it was mentioned on the news," she told him quietly.

"I read about it too. It was really big news since it was so uncommon."

"It makes sense now. Koushirou didn't go to the Yagami's to study because he was with Mimi-chan."

"But that attempted assault occurred over near Odaiba University. Why were they there?"

She sighed. Right now, she was much too worried about Koushirou to fully care about that.

"Maybe there's a connection to his breaking into his school and going to Odaiba University."

Mrs. Izumi lowered her head, shedding tears. "We ran him off with our questions."

"No, don't say that."

"He hates us now!"

"That's not true."

"You heard him! We're liars to him, and said that we've been lying to him for his entire life! What else could he have meant by that? He didn't sound happy with us at the time!"

"I'm still wondering what he meant by that," the man responded calmly. "If we do not get _any_ answers out of him, I feel we deserve knowing what it is that we're lying to him about. I want to get this all out in the open and then _may_be we can start off as a family again."

"I hope so…"

Right at that moment, a certain redheaded computer whiz was waiting on the outside of the apartment door. He was still hesitant on whether or not to enter the home which he felt he had broken apart. Mimi insisted that Koushirou go straight home. He offered to walk her home after they got off of the train, but Yamato said that he would make sure she got home alright. Mimi agreed to it. She felt that the more time Koushirou spent reconciling with his parents to work things out, the better. He procrastinated a bit longer, sending out messages to everyone, letting them know that all was okay with him and how he was sorry for causing them so much worry.

'It's now or never! I have to go in and I have to apologize,' he told himself. "I wouldn't be surprised if they _really_ wanted to kick me out of the family after this," he muttered under his breath.

Koushirou took in a deep breath and stuck the key into the door's lock. After the lock clicked, he slowly turned the knob, still resistant on entering. He took in another deep breath, and realized that he had to accept whatever his fate was going to be. He just hoped that it would be a quick, painless death.

From inside the spacious apartment, Mrs. Izumi heard the lock click, and she jerked her head up.

He noticed the alertness on his wife's face. "What is it?"

"I thought I heard something." She stood up, and followed the sound of the click. 'Oh please be him! _Please_ be him!' She made her way to the front door. "_Kou_shirou!" She rushed up to him and hugged him tightly. "Oh my goodness, you're back!" she cried. "Thank the _gods_ you're back! I was so afraid that I would never see you again!"

Mr. Izumi heard the commotion and saw his wife smothering his son in hugs.

"Koushirou, please don't run off again! Please don't worry your father and me like that again! Please forgive me! I didn't mean any of what I said! I just let my emotions get the better of me because I was so upset! I didn't mean to be so hurtful towards you! I'm sorry for running you off!"

The boy, who was currently lacking air from the tight hug, couldn't get anything out _to_ respond. He was actually a bit surprised that they were happy to see him. He figured that they would have been ready to kill him for what he had done, of course not literally. Either way, he _was_ expecting some yelling from them.

"I think he knows that you're glad to see him," Mr. Izumi said while pulling his wife away. "He's turning blue."

"I'm sorry," she apologized.

"That's okay," Koushirou rasped out with a cough.

"Did you have anything to eat today? I can prepare you something quick. If you want, I could-"

"Calm down, Yoshie."

"I'm sorry; I was just so worried about him."

"Son, will you please come sit with us at the table?" the man asked seriously.

He nodded, but first, he took off his jacket, and hanged it up in the hall closet. When he did this, his article and three photos fell out, but Koushirou didn't notice. He sat down with his father, while Mrs. Izumi left to get Koushirou a snack.

"I'm not hungry, mother."

"Well, you should at _least_ have something to drink," she called from the kitchen. "I'll be back in a moment."

"O-okay." Mr. Izumi sat there, waiting for his wife to return, which didn't take her too long. She brought Koushirou a glass of oolong tea, which he accepted gratefully. After he finished his drink, Mr. Izumi spoke up.

"Do you have anything that you want to tell us, son?"

Koushirou lowered his head. He knew that there was no way he could keep everything secret from them anymore.

"Well, son?"

The boy was about to speak, until he saw his mother get up and walk towards the front door. She wanted to make sure it was locked. On her way down the hall, she noticed the papers on the floor and she was the clean, tidy type, and usually always spotted things that were out of place. Koushirou ignored this, and turned his attention back to his father.

"Well…you see…Mimi-san and I, well, uh, we-"

"Were in search of someone," a light voice interrupted.

Koushirou and Mr. Izumi looked towards the woman who was staring down at the news article.

"Yoshie, what are you talking about?"

She handed her husband the articles of paper she had found on the floor. She took a seat on the other side of her husband. Koushirou could tell that she had been crying and he hated that more than anything, causing his mother to cry. That made him feel even worse.

"Is that what you accused us of lying to you about?" asked Mrs. Izumi in a hushed voice. "Your adoption?"

He nodded slowly.

"How long have you known?"

He kept his head lowered, his voice as quiet as hers. "Since I was about seven or eight…"

"_That_ long?" Mr. Izumi asked in surprise. "You've known about it for _that_ long? Why didn't you come to us about it?"

He was surprised that his father would even ask him something like that, and even more surprised that neither had figured it out. "Why didn't you ever come to _me_ with this information? I always felt it was your responsibility to share that with me, not the other way around. It made me feel as if I was an embarrassment to you, which is why you kept it quiet."

"You're right; we _should_ have been more open and honest with you about your origins and your past," Mrs. Izumi spoke up, "but that still doesn't explain why you would want to keep such a secret from us. If we would have known that you knew about your adoption, we would have confronted you about it. The reason we never told you about your adoption was because we both felt that it wasn't the right time, not because we were embarrassed of you."

"No, don't take up for me. It was my idea to keep this away from you, but it's like she said, it wasn't because we felt you were an embarrassment to us. Your mother wanted to tell you about your adoption a _long_ time ago, but I kept telling her that the time wasn't right, and she stood by me and my decision. I felt that if we told you of your adoption, that we would end up losing you, and I didn't want to go through that again. You were a blessing to us and it was meant to be, our adopting you."

"Lose me?"

He nodded. "We were afraid that you would end up doing exactly what you've been doing for the past few days. We were afraid that you just _may_ find someone and…leave us."

"We were just being selfish. We didn't mean to, we just didn't want to risk losing you or feeling that you were any lesser because of your being adopted."

"When were you planning on telling me?"

"When you became an adult, where we wouldn't have any say in what you do in reference to it, although, I now wonder if your father and I would've actually gone through with it." She wiped away one of her tears.

"Mother, please don't cry." She apologized. "No, mother, don't apologize." He rose from his seat and walked to the other side of the room, his back to them. He sighed. "I'm the one who should be apologizing to you for overreacting. I should have figured that you kept that secret for a reason, and I shouldn't have made a really big deal over being adopted. At times, I felt like I didn't belong, since I only have the name of Izumi. I always felt that I wasn't a _real_ Izumi, and for years, it's always partially bothered me, but the feelings didn't seem to come out at full force until I found out mother was going to have a baby. I felt that I would be a burden to you since you were going to have a child who would have an actual role and place in the family as a _real_ Izumi."

"Koushirou, don't you _ever_ think that! We love you like you were our own son!" Mrs. Izumi told him. "How could you even _think_ something like that?"

"I know it's silly to think, but you guys didn't tell me about my adoption, so I felt like I was tainting the name of Izumi…like I was undeserving of even having the name, but I shouldn't have held that against you. You both felt that it was best that I didn't know, but at least I know that you _were_ planning on telling me eventually, when you felt I was ready."

He turned back to them.

"I said some things the other night that I _definitely_ didn't mean. I really would like to apologize for that. It was uncalled for. I don't feel you are liars and you've been wonderful parents to me. I wasn't thinking straight, and I was just overwhelmed and a bit upset that you mentioned Sunday…"

Mrs. Izumi stood and walked up to her slightly taller son. "Don't say anything else about Sunday if you don't want to."

"It's okay?"

"We already know what happened," Mr. Izumi told him.

"You do?"

"We know that you were trying to keep the identity of Mimi-chan a secret. We know of how she was attacked, and how you helped her out."

"I'm so sorry about that! I lied about where I was supposed to have gone, and-"

"Stop apologizing. We forgive you for what you've been doing."

"But why were you at Odaiba University?" asked Mr. Izumi.

"I found out that my biological father was an instructor there. I was trying to obtain some information about him."

"You spent all of Sunday at Odaiba University with Mimi?"

He shook his head, and realized that it was probably time that he shared most everything with them.

"Hikari_ga_oka? You went all the way out there?" asked his mother in surprised.

He continued on with the story about how he was very curious about his real parents, and reiterated that he had no intention of leaving them and made it very clear. "I was only curious," he constantly said. He told them about how he had met Ms. Mitsuishi, how he had gone to Tokyo University and ran into Sora's father and Jou's brother, how he met a student by the name of Fujitani Keisuke at Odaiba University, and how rude the receptionist was towards both him and Mimi, and how it was Mimi who had persuaded him to actually come home. He also mentioned how Mimi was the one who managed to get the photos.

"So you now understand that we are family by blood, though thin. Your father and I are distant relatives."

"That's okay. I still view both you and mother as my genuine parents, even if you aren't by blood. You two are all I know, and over the years, you have taken care of me as if I _were_ your very own."

Mrs. Izumi started to cry again. Those were the best words she had _ever_ heard from Koushirou. She, of course, strangled the boy with another one of her big hugs.

After the hug, Koushirou and his parents talked for the majority of the night, getting everything that they had been keeping secret from one another out in the open, which included Koushirou admitting that another reason he didn't want to tell them about what he was doing, was because he feared offending them. Koushirou also found out why the Izumis fostered children before adopting him. He was surprised to learn that his mother had had another child before him, but then understood why his parents were making such a big deal about the pregnancy.

This was making Koushirou feel much better, and in a way, he had Mimi to thank for it. Before they left him, Mimi had pretty much threatened the boy, but in an, "I'm your friend and I care about you" type of way. She insisted that he share everything with his parents. He thought about it a lot, and did. That was a good thing, actually. Now that he had done just that, he had a new and better perspective of the Izumis…

Author's Notes

Note 1: I was inspired to have Koushirou a fan of astronomy because of the US dub episode of Adventure, "Togemon in Toy Town". The episode where Palmon evolved to Togemon for the first time. Anyway, for the dub of the episode, the children were all going on about what they missed most about the human world. The dub had it as:

Tai: Relaxing in the bath after a game.

Sora: Singing while doing chores.

Matt: Eating his mother's grilled steaks on Sundays.

TK: Playing video games with "Matt".

Izzy: Looking at Satellite pictures of stars on the computer.

Mimi: Vacationing.

Joe: Doing homework and studying.

As you can see, for Izzy, I just added more to it since it was a bit creative. For "Palmon Ikari no Shinka" (I guess, this could mean, "Palmon's Angry Evolution"), it said:

Taichi: Taking a bath.

Sora: Doing laundry.

Yamato: Yamato didn't miss his mother grilling steaks; he wanted to eat some good old fashioned barbecue until he was stuffed. lol He was probably referring to Korean barbecue.

Takeru: Same as the dub, minus the Yamato part, seeing as how the two didn't see each other much prior to Adventure 02, apparently.

Koushirou: Sending e-mail to his online friends/talking with his internet friends.

Mimi: Drinking ice-cold cola.

Jou: The same, studying and homework.

x x x

Note 2: Yes, as Yamato pointed out, "Nagare Boshi" is a bad pun. Nagare = Shooting. Hoshi = Star, but when put together, you get "Nagareboshi" = shooting star or meteor. Sad, right? lol

x x x

Note 3: Yeah, another bad joke due to lack of an imagination. Sutaa + Mi = Sutaami = Starmie for those into the whole Pokemon thing.

x x x

Note 4: At the time I wrote this, and made a second revision a good while later, all I knew about the beach was that the waters had a lot of bacteria in it and was very polluted and not very clean. I'm not sure if it's been cleaned within the past few years, as that was one place I wasn't able to visit while in Japan.

Fic Chapter Changes

The first change is the location, somewhat. I originally had this in mind, _but_, I couldn't think of an area for this place to be. So, I decided to go with Shiokaze Park, and to give you a better idea of how wide the place is, I'll give you a landmark to go by and you fan always google it as well. It's where the life-size Gundam was. It was in Shiokaze Park of Odaiba, but it isn't there currently, as it was taken down. In a way, Shiokaze Park is kinda like the "outskirts of Odaiba". Originally, I had Mimi and Yamato get off the bus at Odaiba Beach (didn't specify a name at the time, but that was the one I had in mind). Nearby was a building, and they climbed up a hill to get to it. As you can see, I did away with that.

I changed the way Mimi addressed Mr. Nagare. I, originally, had her refer to him as "Nagare-hakase".

Originally, I had that there were two researchers, Mr. Nagare and Mr. Boshi, but as you can see, I changed that so I could have an excuse to have Yamato react more to the name.

I changed some transportation stuff. Originally, as I mentioned, the observatory and the beach were in the same place, and they had to hurry to get back to the bus since it was the last bus going to and from there. I changed it so that they could take the train home.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but, originally, Ms. Nagataki gave Mimi only two photos. One of the "family portrait" and the other of both her and Miki together (but I had that they were in their early 20s). The third photo is new.


	26. 26  The Presentation and Introduction

Hi again everyone. I'm glad you're enjoying this, and sorry for taking longer to update this. I've been very busy with this new job of mine. It's very time-consuming. Now, let's see. Oh yeah. Finally, everything is pretty much resolved between Koushirou and his parents. All apologized for the things they didn't mean and got everything out in the open. Koushirou now no longer feels slightly insecure over his being adopted and realized that if his parents could accept him, then most anyone could.

Now, for this chapter, Koushirou gives his presentation. Since I changed the date of the dance, things are going to be _slightly_ different. Originally, this was supposed to have been the last day of school for everyone, but since the dance is going to be on Saturday, that's now going to be the last day. Other things to happen in this chapter will be Koushirou going to Odaiba Elementary School and running into a character that hasn't been _seen_ since Sora's party. I had to get him back in here somehow. lol

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 26: The Presentation and Introduction!

Friday had finally arrived, and it was time for Mr. Ishidzuka's history class presentation. Mimi was a little bit nervous, despite how happy she'd been after receiving the news from her volleyball head. The nervousness the girl now felt was definitely a first for her. Normally being in front of people didn't bother her too much, and she was pretty much a natural when it came to being in front of an audience of her peers. She was hoping that she and Koushirou had gathered enough information about his family for Mr. Ishidzuka to give the pair a good mark.

The main thing that was causing her uneasiness was the fact that during cleaning time after lunch Koushirou had requested that he do the presentation by himself and how he had made his "final decision".

Mimi sat and awaited the start of his presentation, not really understanding what he meant entirely. She noticed that Koushirou didn't have his laptop with him; instead, he just had a few sheets of paper.

"Okay Izumi-kun," Mr. Ishidzuka pulled out a pen and writing pad, "we are all ready for your presentation."

The boy nodded and began. The entire presentation was good overall but there was one main thing Koushirou did which surprised Mimi. He gave her recognition, and thanked her for her assistance, but instead of mentioning how successful Satoru was or how great a teacher Miki was, he spoke of the Izumis. He spoke of their histories, like the schools they attended, their majors, etc. Not _once_ did he mention his biological parents nor did he ever allude to the fact that he was even adopted.

After the simple, to the point presentation, Mr. Ishidzuka told Koushirou that he had done a very good job, and that pairing him up with "Tachikawa-san" was a good choice. For the assignment, Koushirou received a 95% since he was pretty thorough with his information, but he didn't bore anyone or drag it on too long either. Most of the students were actually surprised that being head of the Computer Club, that he didn't just do some type of a computer presentation.

"Great job, Izumi-kun. I'm proud of you. This one project has made up for the many class discussions you've avoided for the year."

"Thank you Ishidzuka-sensei," he shyly mumbled.

"Well, class is now over. I must say that I am very pleased with your work on these assignments. Wasn't it more fun than sitting through a lecture?" Some of the students hesitantly nodded. "Yes, free thinking is one of the more fun aspects of life! Out of all the projects presented, I _must_ say that Ueda-kun and Tomokazu-kun had one of the most creative ones that I have ever seen."

The two boys stood. "Arigatou gozaimasu, Ishidzuka-sensei!" both boys bowed.

"This entire assignment was my idea, so I should receive a higher score than my cousin."

"You _would_ say something like that," Seki muttered while rolling his eyes.

"Of _course_ I would! I do deserve more credit than you since it was my idea!"

"Ueda-kun, you both receive the same amount of credit." The man massaged his temples from the headache that had started forming from Yuuji's silliness. "I don't know what made you think that you would receive more credit than Tomokazu-kun."

"Aww!"

Both Yuuji and Seki asked to be partnered up for the assignment, and Mr. Ishidzuka, reluctantly, allowed them to. Yuuji figured that since they were both from the same family anyway, why bother doing two separate projects. The two decided to put together a slide show. The slide show was mostly Yuuji's idea, though. While giving the presentation, Seki did the narration while Yuuji did the slide show, which consisted of drawings of their family tree. Each highlighted a specific family member of the tree.

"Class dismissed everyone. I'll probably see you tomorrow for the third-year graduation ceremony."

The clock chimed, and the entire class cheered and rushed out of the room happily, glad that they only had one more day left and then their long awaited vacation would start before having to return for all of the mandatory preparations for the first years and for the club activities that did meet during the break. The now empty classroom, since their teacher had rushed off himself, just had Koushirou in it, who was still getting his books situated. "At least this is all over," he sighed out in relief.

His book bag in order, he was greeted by a karaoke loving girl.

"You don't have to say anything," he spoke up before she could question his presentation. "I already have an idea as to what you're going to say."

"You do?"

"It's probably about my presentation, correct?"

She nodded. "We did a lot of research. We got a lot of information. How come you didn't use any of it?"

"Well, this assignment was for us to talk about our true families and their histories, and thinking about it, my adoptive family _is_ my true family. That was the decision that I made, to either speak of the Izumis as opposed to my real parents and their histories. For my mother's side, anyway, I really couldn't say much given her circumstances. The decision I mentioned to Miyako-kun was whether or not I should tell the Izumis about what I had been doing for the past few days, and how I'd made my decision _not _to, but you talked some sense into me.

"The Izumis have taken care of me my entire life, like I was their own flesh and blood. We may not be fully related by blood, but those two are the only family I have ever had and they are the only family I have ever known…and I love them as if they _were_ my real parents. I know that my mother doesn't want to kick me out of the family just because of her being pregnant or think that her new soon-to-be child will be more important to her than I am…"

"I guess," she took in everything Koushirou said slowly, "but what about all the stuff we found out about your biological family?"

"Originally, I went off in search of gathering information for the sake of this project, but at the same time, I felt a little guilty about doing that, but, my curiosity grew, as I wanted to know more about myself. Even though I didn't use that information today, I'm highly appreciative of your help and can actually rest a bit better knowing what they were like."

"I guess that's okay, but it was still a lot of work."

"Like I said earlier, I _really_ appreciate what you did for me, Mimi-san. I don't know too many people who would have put up with me the way you did, especially when my behavior towards you at times was inexcusable."

Mimi wasn't sure how to react. She was neither mad at him nor was she even remotely annoyed. She was a little surprised at herself for feeling neither towards him, given how much and how long it took them to gather the information. A few years ago, she probably would have complained about doing so much work for nothing, but the present-day teen realized that the time the two had spent together wasn't an entire waste.

Their friendship had improved tremendously because of their traveling and hanging out together more than usual. The two were _definitely_ a lot closer, and Mimi always felt that friendship was very important, and finding ways to improve friendships were even better.

Another thing that made Mimi glad, was how Koushirou's views had changed a bit. He was one of Mrs. Izumi's biggest supporters now, and his insecurities over it, were now gone. She was glad that Koushirou realized that there was nothing wrong with his being adopted, "You're the same Koushirou to me," she'd told him during the train ride home. If the Izumis were really bothered with his "tainting the Izumi bloodline", like Koushirou had partially felt for some of his life, they wouldn't have kept him around nor would they have treated him with lots of love and kindness over the years.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time," Koushirou apologized, noticing the spaced out look on her face. He figured that the girl must have been so annoyed with him that she couldn't speak. He started to walk off.

"No, Koushirou, wait!" Mimi called, breaking away from her thoughts.

He turned back to face her. "Yeah?"

"You didn't waste my time." She smiled. "I _chose_ to help you, remember? I could have turned down the offer to help, but I didn't and helped you out anyway because I didn't mind it. I _was_ a little surprised that you went through so much trouble to get all of that information and then not use it, but I understand why you didn't, and am glad that you are happy more than anything. I'm glad that we're better friends because of working on this project together."

"Better friends?"

She nodded. "That's enough for me. I love making new friends…"

"But I'm an old friend…"

"…or getting closer to an old friend."

He gave her a goofy, uneasy grin. He was really happy that he'd grown closer to Mimi too, but deep down he wished that they could be a bit closer, maybe something _beyond_ friendship. Of course, whenever any type of thought like that remotely inched close to his mind, he'd shake it off, as, to him, the idea was unnatural and absurd to think of her in any way outside of friendship.

Mimi looked down at her wrist watch, realizing the time was slipping away.

"I have to get going. I'm meeting up with Sora-san since I have to get ready for tomorrow. I still haven't found a gown for the dance yet." Her eyes grew starry. "This is going to be really exciting. At least if I go this year, I'll know what to expect when I go to the dance next year!" She gave Koushirou a gentle smile. "I would be honored for you to be my partner for _our_ dance next year, but first, there is the Cherry Blossom Festival next month. I would really like for you to go. The bloom is going to be really nice this year. We can even make a party of it. A Chosen Children get together."

Ignoring everything about the festival, as that wasn't too farfetched to begin with, it surprised him a bit over how she had invited him to be her partner. "You would actually want to go with someone like me to that type of a social event?" He felt himself vaguely blush in embarrassment; he didn't know the first thing about formal dances, unless the bon dance counted.

"Sure, why not." The girl gave Koushirou a quick, light kiss on the cheek and a playful giggle, which left him incredibly red. She then took off to join up with Sora, who was going to help her pick out an outfit for the dance, even if it was last minute.

Quite a few students, who had been walking by the classroom, saw Mimi give Koushirou _this_ kiss. Most everyone started murmuring amongst themselves about it, and the word was starting to get around the school. Of course, the more and more the rumor spread, the more and more exaggerated it became as the students anxiously, and discreetly, messaged one another, as they were still on the school grounds.

After Koushirou got over the shock that this had been the most kisses he'd ever received from a person of the opposite gender, he started for home. He noticed that a lot of students would look at him and then start talking amongst one another as he would pass them by. He had no idea what was going on, but dismissed the thought since he had more important things to worry about, even though from some of the boys, he was receiving death glares. That just made him feel a bit uncomfortable, but he still continued on down the hallway.

The walk didn't last for much longer, as he was confronted by a jealous, lovesick fan boy. "Ueda-san…"

"Izumi, _what_ is your secret?" the boy asked, almost as if he were begging.

"My secret?" Koushirou felt more of those death glares coming from behind him. 'This feeling…it's weird…and almost feels dangerous…'

"_What_ is it about you that Mimi-chan likes so much?"

"Eh?"

"I want to know so that she can like me too!" Yuuji whined loudly, tears streaming down his face.

'Is he _always_ this melodramatic?'

"Izumi…please…"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"We _all_ know that she kissed you!"

After Yuuji mentioned that, Koushirou's demeanor grew somewhat arrogant, and he partially smirked. He was actually _enjoying_ the jealousy Yuuji was displaying this particular time, although, personally, he wished that Misao was in Yuuji's place at the moment. He personally found Misao the most annoying of all of the Mimi followers, and was still a bit put off over how the boy had had the audacity to request him to ask out Mimi for him.

"So?" Koushirou responded in a coolness which could rival that of Yamato or Eijiro.

"_So_! She's kissed you! Do you know how many boys would _love_ to get a kiss from Mimi-chan!"

"I'm sure there are quite a few boys who would love for Mimi-san to use her 'kiss attack' on them, but we are only friends, Ueda-san."

With that, the boy hurried himself along to get away from Yuuji, and the other students of their school. After changing out of his shoes in record speed, since he did feel himself being stared at evilly, and exiting the school, he saw Miyako who was just a few paces ahead of him. "Miyako-kun!" he called to her.

She turned around to see Koushirou running towards her. She forced on a smile once he caught up. She heard about what had happened but from the message she received and from what she'd briefly heard, it was an all out romantic kiss shared between the two, not a simple friendship kiss from Mimi to him.

She, as well as many others, knew that something like a kiss was meaningful and normally only given in a romantic sense, which is why everyone was so suspicious over the two and why Miyako thought the way that she did. She then would think back to how Mimi _did_ spend a good amount of time in America, and to her knowledge, she heard about how kisses were common there and shared between friends. She really hoped that that was the case.

"Hey there, Izumi-senpai. How are you?"

"Fine," he plainly stated. "It's nice out today, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," she answered back quietly.

"Would you like me to walk with you? It's on my way since I'm planning on dropping by Odaiba Elementary before going home."

"I guess that'd be okay," she replied nonchalantly.

The two resumed their walk, but Koushirou noticed how quiet Miyako was. That was definitely a first for her.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, not really. I was just thinking about something…"

"What about?"

"Mimi-oneesama…"

"Mimi-san?" asked the boy in surprise. 'No, I can't _handle_ something like that! She couldn't be interested…could she?'

"Yeah, I just really envy her."

'Good, I thought she was going to say something else. Seems everyone else is into her in that way lately…' He coughed slightly. "Um, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She shot him a look of annoyance. "I guess not," he muttered. "What is there for you to be envious over?"

"I guess," she looked up at the clear blue sky, a bird wistfully soaring by, "sometimes I wish I could be more like her. Every boy likes her; _no_ boy likes me." She chuckled lightly, feeling a little embarrassed. "I don't know _why_ I told you that."

He didn't know why either, but he tried his best to cheer her up and give her _some_ kind of words of encouragement, even if that wasn't his specialty. "That's alright; I'm sure lots of boys like you. You're a really nice girl and so is Mimi-san." He gave off a nervous grin. "Maybe they're just too shy to approach you."

"They sure aren't shy when it comes to her," she retorted. "She has a fan club and even Yamato-san seems to like her! I know that Sora-san, Chizu-nee, and I were other choices for him to ask along to be his partner, but he asked her first anyway."

"Maybe it's not like that. Maybe he only asked her first because he's known her longer and Taichi-san had already asked Sora-san according to what you told me in your messages. Mimi-san probably wouldn't have gone at all unless she was asked, which she was. If not by Yamato-san, maybe someone else would have asked her along eventually," he quieted down considerably, and sub-consciously said, "like maybe me, perhaps," but then added on quickly after realizing what he'd said, "or any of her other friends."

She looked over at him in surprise, her face going partially red from what she had in mind to ask him. "Well, um, Izumi-senpai," she started slowly, "do you think that well, you could ever, like, um…"

"Do you think I could like what?"

She shook her head, losing her nerve. "You know what, just forget about it!" she cried out in frustration. "I-I-I have to go. See you tomorrow," she told him, completely flustered. With that, the girl ran off, surprised at herself for what she was going to ask him; if he could ever see himself falling for a girl like her. It was also surprising how she wasn't very open with her feelings on the subject since she's never been one to keep quiet about guys she found attractive or liked. Her feelings were usually very open, which really showed how she was suited for the Digimental of Purity.

Koushirou stared at the girl in pure confusion, but figured he'd be better off ignoring it. The behavior of girls was one topic he had no knowledge of, and, frankly, he figured there was no logical way of ever figuring them out, and Miyako had just proven his point.

'How does he _really_ feel about her? Could he ever see me the way he sees her? I have this strange feeling that he likes her more than he lets on, especially since he's gone out of his way just to be nice to her…Yuuko-san might be right about him…'

After Miyako ran off, Koushirou continued the walk, alone, to his former elementary school. He was planning on paying Ms. Nagataki a visit. Mimi told him a lot about her during the train ride home from Odaiba Beach, which left Yamato completely lost and confused, and made him feel like a third wheel, almost. She even delivered her message about how he wasn't abandoned. The conversation was vague to the ears of the local celebrity, which caused him to feel slightly disgruntled, and caused him to forget to ask about Professor Nagare's peculiar name. Koushirou found it very ironic how, at one point, he was in close physical proximity of a person who could have saved him a lot of travel time, yet so far away.

It didn't take him long, but he finally reached the school he had graduated from just a couple of years earlier. The school was pretty empty, as the students only had a half-day. He entered it and headed straight to the library, hoping to find Ms. Nagataki there. He too recognized the name like Mimi had, but he couldn't recall her face at first, until he'd seen her photo.

When he arrived at the nearly dead library, he looked around to surprisingly find a tall, slim boy with dark shoulder-lengthened hair wearing a grey school uniform playing chess with a woman who resembled Ms. Nagataki at one of the tables. He remained at the library's doors, recognizing the boy at the table. 'Ichijouji-kun?'

Koushirou could tell that the game may have been close to finished. Both Ken and the woman were down to their rooks, and the woman still had two of her power pieces left included with that. Ken only had one aside from his queen. As they continued to play, Ken managed to capture both of the woman's rooks.

"Hm, I don't think I have too many choices as far as moves are concerned, Nagataki-sensei."

"My old friend, Miki-chan, would figure out a way to get out of the mess that you are in, Ichijouji-kun. I'm sure that you could come up with a nice strategy to capture my king using your two rooks and your queen against my two bishops. You have a _big_ advantage over me since you're not fully limited by the direction that your remaining pieces can move."

Ever since everything dealing with Ken's Dark Seed, he wasn't as "spectacular" as all had thought of him to be. Since it no longer served any purpose, the Dark Seed's powers no longer worked for him. Ken was just as average as any other person when it came to school, sports, and most anything else, although, he did prove to be intelligent by studying, like any other normal student. In a way, he was the way that he was _before_ he was infected by it, maybe slightly above average. One of the things he enjoyed when younger was chess. His older, deceased brother, Ichijouji Osamu, had taught him how to play. Ken, back then, was an okay player, but Osamu, in Ken's eyes, was a genius at the game.

Whenever time allowed it, after school, Ken would ride in from Tamachi and head over to Odaiba Elementary to get refresher lessons from Ms. Nagataki. He met her when visiting the school to meet up with Daisuke, as the two were going to go over some soccer plays. He saw her in the library studying a chessboard. While Daisuke had to run and get something, he spoke with her, and found out that she was a good player of the game and asked if she could teach him how to play efficiently again, which she gladly agreed to.

Ever since the Dark Spore incident and its powers being deactivated, technically, Ken had lost some of his power to concentrate on some things, and chess was one of them, as it reminded him of his brother so much. He just recently got back into the game of chess when he played against Miyako and lost.

Dark Seed or no Dark Seed, there was one thing that did remain pretty much the same, and it was his uncanny ability to attract girls, just like Yamato and Takeru. Girls seemed to flock to them as well.

"Come on, Ichijouji-kun, I know you can get this," the woman said with encouragement. "I only have two bishops left here, and _no _pawns that can actually help aid me in any way. What could you do to get me into check, and then into checkmate?"

He thought for a moment as he finally started to see what she had. "Okay, I'll move my rook here." He picked up the castle shaped chess piece and moved it to the row in front of where Nagataki's king sat. "B5 to B2..."

Ms. Nagataki smiled as she moved one of her pawns up a space, but as she'd pointed out earlier, it wouldn't have helped her much.

"Okay, now I'll move my queen…here…A5 to F5…"

He moved his queen to the column beside Ms. Nagataki's king so that way, she wouldn't be able to move her king there _if_ he managed to get her into check. She nodded in approval, and moved her pawn up another space. Seizing the opportunity, Ken moved his second rook onto the actual row that her king sat.

"H8 to H1." He then got an almost evil, Digimon Kaiser-like smirk, and said, "Checkmate!"

"See, with the first rook you moved, you prevented my king from moving or running to that second row. With your queen, you blocked me from going over to column f, and with your second rook, you made it so that I couldn't run or get my king to safety. Great job, Ichijouji-kun! "

"Thank you."

"Although, you _could_ have done that with just one of your rooks and the queen, or maybe just with the two rooks, but never mind that. It was still a pretty good play." She gave him an assuring smile. "See, you are _not_ too dumb to play chess. You just have to learn how to concentrate. Considering your past, I can understand why you have so much distraction and why you have a bit of difficulty concentrating sometimes. You still have your brother's death on your mind, I'm sure."

He looked a bit melancholy and a nodded slowly. "Ever since he died, I avoided playing the game of chess because it depressed me, but ever since I played a friend of mine a while ago, I finally realized how bad off a player I had become, and felt that maybe I should get some lessons, so that I may improve that skill again. It was like we were fated to meet. I know I was a champion at one point, but those days are over. My brother wouldn't want me to mope around and I know he wouldn't want me to stop playing the one game I always enjoyed most with him, other than blowing bubbles together…"

"It's always nice to do things to remember a loved one by. I even do it myself. I always try my best to keep my friend who died years ago in my memories. I loved her a lot. She was like a sister to me, and my playing chess and sharing it with others is my way of keeping her memory fresh and alive."

"I guess we both have that in common, Nagataki-sensei."

"It seems so. We both lost a person close to us that enjoyed a good game of chess."

He stood. "Thank you very much, Nagataki-sensei. I really appreciate your taking the time to help refresh me in the basics of chess. This past month has been very enlightening. I just wish I was able to come by everyday instead of maybe once or twice a week."

"It's no problem at all, Ichijouji-kun. It's always refreshing to see a young person interested in such a strategic game."

He nodded, but didn't leave quite yet. Koushirou still remained at the library's door, a bit anxious to enter fully to approach the two. He shook off the nervous feeling in his stomach, and decided to walk up towards them anyway.

"-and that was the year of the big tournament that was won by my friend!" Ms. Nagataki finished up. "I ended up in the semi finals, but I wasn't good enough to even get a _chance_ to play her," she heartily laughed.

"She must was a really great player!"

Ken sat back down, engrossed in the conversation, until they heard the sound of someone lightly clearing his throat.

"Hello there, young man. How may we help you?" The woman didn't pay the boy too much mind at first, as she was still putting away the chess equipment as neatly as she possibly could.

"Hey, what are _you_ doing here?"

"I could ask the same of you, Ichijouji-kun. You're kind of far from home and from your school, although, from Tamachi, it only takes maybe…a half hour by train or so not counting the commute to the stations both here and there."

"Nagataki-sensei is helping me brush up on my chess skills. She sets up different scenarios and I have to find a way to capture her king. Today, she used a simple and basic procedure, mainly because it's one of the easiest to set up."

After having finally finished packing up everything, she got a better look at the boy. She studied his face immensely. "I can't believe it!" she exclaimed while standing up. "It's you, isn't it?"

Ken was a bit confused as to why Ms. Nagataki was acting so strangely just because of Koushirou's being there. Koushirou, on the other hand, wanted to verify that who he was speaking with, was the right person he was in search of. "Hello there. Are you Nagataki Sui-san?"

She nodded, feeling her voice temporarily leave her due to the overwhelming emotion of joy she felt.

"I am Izumi Koushirou."

"Nagataki-sensei, Nagataki-sensei?" He looked back up at Koushirou from his seat. "What's wrong? What's going on?"

"I can't believe it! I really can't believe it! It is Chibi-Koushi!" Joyful tears started to fall from her eyes.

'Chibi-Koushi? Why is Nagataki-sensei calling him that?'

"After all of these years, worrying about you and wondering if you ever found a good home, I get to see you again! It's so surprising how I missed you all those years ago when you were a student here. Of course I'd seen you before, but never had you as one of my students. I'm sure if I had, I would've taken more notice of you. It's been nearly 15 years since I've seen you last!"

"You know Koushirou-san, ma'am?"

She nodded. "His mother and I were the best of friends as children."

"Mrs. Izumi?"

"No, my chess-playing friend, Miki-chan."

"Misayoshi-san?" He scratched his head in confusion. "Did Izumi-san change both her given name as well as her family name for some unusual reason when marrying?" Ken shook his head. 'No wait...that can't be right. Misayoshi-san is dead.'

Koushirou, who had remained quiet so far during this reunion, answered the younger boy's question. As of right now, he didn't care who knew of his adoption and realized that if people knew about it, it wouldn't be an embarrassment to the Izumis nor would anyone shun him for it. His adoptive parents had accepted him and so did his friends, although, granted, to his knowledge, the only one who knew of his adoption was Mimi - and figured that she probably would've passed it on to some of their other friends by now - but she didn't think ill of him, and figured that his other friends would react in the same manner.

"No, she didn't change her given name when married. You see, Ichijouji-kun, Misayoshi Miki is my biological mother. She passed away when I was very young, both she and my real father. The Izumis adopted me shortly after their deaths."

Just as the others, Ken was surprised to hear such news. He felt that his attitude was undeserved compared to Koushirou's situation. Here he was, mourning over his brother, still, because of something as trivial as a board game, while Koushirou had lost both of his parents.

"My, you've grown so much!" the woman exclaimed, seeing how tall the boy had become. "Referring to you as Chibi-Koushi would be inappropriate now," she laughed.

"No, I don't mind," he told her, even if he _did_ truly mind. The name didn't sound very becoming at all. "Please, call me whatever you are accustomed to."

The woman sniffled slightly, and tears started to slowly drip again. "If I would have been able to, I would have taken you in," she told him guiltily. "Please do not feel as if anyone abandoned you after your parents' deaths."

"No, I'm not upset or anything. I just wanted to meet you. Mimi-san told me everything that you shared with her. It is my responsibility to come meet the person who was close to my biological family. According to Mimi-san, you and Misayoshi-san were like sisters."

She nodded in confirmation, and began telling both boys the story of how she and Miki were great friends, and why Miki had become a teacher.

After the long, tearful reunion between Koushirou and Ms. Nagataki – Ms. Nagataki doing all of the crying – Koushirou made her an offer.

"Nagataki-san, would you mind coming over to my home for dinner? My parents would love to get to know you. You are technically family to me since you knew both my real mother and father and you also spent a lot of time with them. I am very grateful that Mimi-san didn't stop searching and managed to discover you."

"I really wished I'd have known about your attending this school earlier. No one ever let me know of your where-a-bouts or anything like that after you _were_ adopted. I was really concerned about your well being, and wanted to take you in myself, but we all know what happened."

"So, Nagataki-san, will you accept my request?"

"You know, since you said yourself that I'm like family to you, please do not refer to me as 'Nagataki-san'."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I usually always address adults in that manner."

"No need to apologize," she lightly laughed. "Why not refer to me as your Aunt Sui? It seems appropriate since your mother and I were like sisters."

"Right," he nodded, "Sui-obasan."

"The Izumis did a wonderful job in raising you," she complimented. "You are very polite and well-mannered, and I would _love_ to visit you and your family."

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Nagataki-san...erm...Sui-obasan..."

The woman grinned widely and smothered Koushirou in another hug once again. "I am just _so_ happy that you've been living a nice, healthy life."

With a nervous smile, he responded, "So-so am I."

"My, it's starting to grow late around here. I should let you two go."

Koushirou could tell that Ms. Nagataki wasn't ready to part ways yet. "I promise to visit you, Naga-I mean, Sui-obasan. We will have dinner on Sunday evening at 19:00 (7:00)."

"I'll definitely be there."

The boy got her address and vice-versa for her. They also exchanged phone numbers. Koushirou explained to her that he'd personally come and fetch her and escort her to his home. After the exchanges, he, along with Ken, exited the school.

"Wow, I had no idea that you were adopted."

"Don't worry about it, Ichijouji-kun. I never mentioned it before, and I guess it's because I never had much of a reason to."

"Well, it's still a little surprising. I don't know much about you, thinking about it now. You rarely ever talk about yourself, unlike maybe Miyako-san or Daisuke-kun. Every time I'm around you, you're always theorizing or sharing some type of information.

"You're so smart, but at the same time, very mysterious."

He laughed shortly. "Miyako-kun has told me that."

"It's actually true. It's strange meeting another person who knows what it's like to lose a family member."

"I never really thought about it in that way before..." he trailed off.

To Ken, Koushirou didn't seem to be in much of a talking mood, as he looked to be deep in thought over his words. He decided to leave him alone, and figured that talking about his adoption and his real parents, must have bothered him some, due to the fact that both had died, or either speaking with those younger than himself bothered him in a general sense, unless that person was Miyako. *He had never seen Koushirou associate with those younger than himself all that much, except for probably Miyako, and be able to hold a steady, casual, everyday conversation with them—not the types that would involve him explaining away one of his many theories.

The two came to an intersection. "Well, I better get going. I have to go meet up with Daisuke-kun, Hikari-san, and Takeru-san at the Motomiya place. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. See you later, Ichijouji-kun."

Ken rushed off as Koushirou waved to him and continued his walk home. He had quite a bit on his mind now, and it all revolved around Ms. Nagataki. He couldn't wait to inform his mother how the woman agreed to come over for dinner. It was pretty much Mrs. Izumi's idea to invite her in the first place. The actual thought of doing something like that hadn't even crossed the young, computer whiz's mind. He just wanted to meet her face to face. His interpretation of the woman was similar to that of Mimi's, loneliness. He picked up on that vibe very well. She wasn't married and she didn't have any children, as far as he knew.

It took a while, but Koushirou _finally_ made it home. He and his parents had very well made up, but in a way, he was still being punished, which he insisted upon. His parents had decided to end the punishment, but Koushirou felt it was better to be more helpful for the time they had originally decided upon. He realized that if he'd just talked to them in the first place, like Mimi had pretty much insisted early on, none of the past events would've happened, but apologies were made on both sides, especially the Izumis who kept his adoption secret from him.

"Tadaima..." Koushirou called as he entered the home.

"Hi, Koushirou," greeted his mother brightly.

"Hi, mother!"

"You seem to be in a very good mood."

"Of course! We only have one more day of school, and it's a half day for the third-year graduation. After that, we will all be able to rest until school starts back up after spring vacation, even though we'll have to go back sometime before that to set up and practice for the entrance ceremonies and the promoting of the clubs. Being the head of a club comes with a lot of responsibilities. Miyako-kun and Mimi-san will have to go in early too. Miyako-kun will have to help me out and Mimi-san, being in a sports club, will still have to practice at some point during the break."

"Very true, but I'm glad to see that you're happy. You all had a very busy week since you were doing so much testing, so a short time off is better than nothing. Usually only high school students get exams at this time of the year getting down to it."

"Yeah, still strange how we were forced to take those. We'll know the results of them tomorrow morning."

"I probably shouldn't be so friendly with you since you insisted on remaining punished, but I just can't help it." She hugged Koushirou. "I'm just glad to have you back! I don't _ever_ want you to do what you did again! If something is _ever_ bothering you, come to us! Your father was wrong for keeping your adoption a secret, as he told you, but I was just as wrong too."

"I'm really sorry, mother!" Koushirou hugged her back. "I know I said so before, but I didn't mean to cause so much trouble, and I didn't mean _any_ of what I said Wednesday."

"I understand." She let go of him. "I didn't mean any of what I said either. At the time, I felt frustrated, sad, angry, embarrassed, and upset all at once. That's the best way I can describe the feeling. I guess I just...exploded."

"I'm just grateful that you still accept me as your son, even if I'm not a real Izumi."

"Even though my blood doesn't flow through your veins, I will always love you as if I had given birth to you myself! That's how important you are to me, Koushirou! I don't _ever_ want you to feel or think otherwise! It doesn't matter to me whether you are my son by blood or not! I will still love you just the same."

His eyes watered. "Thank you...mother..."

"What for?"

"For being a great mother to me all these years."

"You're very welcome."

"Oh by the way, I spoke with Nagataki-san before coming home today, like you suggested."

"Is she going to come over for dinner on Sunday?"

"She agreed to come. I'm planning on going to get her and bring her here. It's the least I could do."

"That's great, I can't wait to meet her again. I remember her vaguely from the times I had to visit, since I was apart of the PTA, but never really spoke with her directly or anything since you never had her as a teacher."

"She's a very nice lady. I can't wait for you to meet her too."

Mrs. Izumi offered Koushirou a snack, but he passed on it and headed to his room to prepare himself to help out around the home, but before he did so, he sat down on his bed to think for a while over what Miyako had said earlier, as he had purposely put it off. _Could_ Yamato have romantic feelings towards Mimi, and if Yamato did, why was it bothering him so much?

He was with her when she found him at Odaiba Beach, and was told by Miyako that before Mimi had gone to look around for him, that she was out with Yamato on what one would technically consider a date. In the message Miyako had sent him, she seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the word "date".

'Could it be true? Could Yamato-san like Mimi-san in _that_ way?'

Koushirou shook his head, trying to dismiss the thought. He didn't want to believe it, even if there _had_ been quite a bit of evidence leading up to it...

Author's Note

Note 1: Until it was pointed out to me, at the time, I never noticed how Koushirou really hadn't associated much with the younger group voluntarily and have maybe a simple everyday conversation with them. He seemed to always talk to those older than he or either with "internet friends" or those his age. It's obvious that Miyako is definitely the exception, since both work together on the sound for Yamato's band and did seem to spend casual time together (at least I always felt that way anyway), but that's about it for the younger group. He didn't even seem to associate much with Iori, and he was his predecessor. In a way, I feel at times that Miyako should have received the Digimental of Knowledge over the Digimental of Love. Seemed to suit her more, then again, I felt that the second Digimental that each newer Chosen Child received suited them more so than the first one which just seemed like "defaults" for them, especially Daisuke. Seriously, he was definitely best suited for the Digimental of Friendship, as, imo, that trait showed for him from the very beginning.

Fic Chapter Changes

I changed the time of the dinner since I changed the time of the dance. Originally, the dinner was for Saturday night, not Sunday.

I changed the conditions of Koushirou's punishment. Originally, I had that the Izumis insisted that he remained grounded for being brought home by the police and for "breaking curfew", which I dropped anyway. I decided to reverse it so that Koushirou would be the one to feel that he should be punished, not his parents. That seems a bit more in-character for him, imo.


	27. 27  Dance Preparations

Hi again everyone. I hope everyone is okay from Hurricane Irene. There are still many here without power, but luckily, I didn't lose mine. Unfortunately, my cat passed away (August 27), so I really wasn't into updating this right away. Since it is Labor Day weekend, I found some time to update this story.

Alrighty, now that that's out of the way, let's see what I can say here. Everything is set for the dance and Ms. Nagataki agreed to visit and meet the Izumis. Not much else I can say, though.

Now, for this chapter, as it was mentioned earlier, there are going to be some changes due to my changing when the actual dance was. Due to all of these changes, I probably won't include much in the "Fic Chapter Changes" section for this part because it'd probably take up the entire chapter. lol If you're really curiou_s_, just go check out the original version of this fic.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 10-11; First/second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 09-10; Last year of Junior High School/First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 08-09; Second/Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 07-08; First/second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12 (Year 06; Final year of Elementary/First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 04-05)

Chapter 27: Dance Preparations and Mimi's Surprise Visitor...

Saturday evening had finally arrived. The graduation ceremony held for the third years had been a marvelous event, and those who were willing to go, were now all preparing for the big dance. Mimi was also preparing, along with her consulting friends.

"Mi-chan, you look great," Yuuko told her friend, while laid out on her bed.

"That dress fits you _per_fectly!" Chinatsu complimented.

"Definitely!" agreed Ayame.

"Thanks everyone," Mimi told them while looking herself over in the mirror.

"I wish I had a pretty dress like that," sighed Yuuko dreamily.

"I'm surprised you managed to find something that nice. You and Sora-san went out for it just yesterday?" asked Ayame.

"Yeah. It was easy to get this dress on such short notice because of her mother. The shop we went to is owned by a friend of hers. It's the same place Sora-san got her dress for tonight. It's so nice, I just may save it for next year."

"Lucky," griped Yuuko partially in envy, "at least you'll _have_ a partner for that dance."

"Yeah, Koushirou," she told them absentmindedly while checking her hair over.

All three girls looked to one another in surprise and then back at Mimi. "Koushirou-kun/Izumi-kun?"

Noticing the surprise in their tones, she stopped checking herself over and turned her attention to the three confusingly. "What's wrong with Koushirou?"

"Erm, well, nothing," Chinatsu spoke up, "but we just figured that you'd go along with Ishida-san again."

"You guys are so silly. This is just a one-time thing."

"_Yet_, you went out with him for an afternoon date."

"As _friends_, Ayame-chan. We spent the time together as friends. We're going to this dance together as friends too. Koushirou and I will go to the dance next year together, since he already promised to anyway," she then added on in almost slight disappointment, "but as friends..."

"So you two _are_ involved! That kiss I heard about from yesterday _was _a romantic one!"

"Yuuko-chan!" Chinatsu and Ayame hissed to their friend.

Yuuko sweat dropped in embarrassment. "Ehehehe...oops..."

"R-ro_man_tic? Are you _kidding_?" she asked defensively, a nervous quirk to her voice. "Th-that was a friendship kiss! I've never had a romantic kiss with anyone before! It's the truth!" Mimi blushed slightly after giving off that revelation. She actually had no idea why she had kissed him. At least the other time she felt she had a good reason, but this time, it was fully instinctive and couldn't resist.

"Don't be like that, Mimi-chan," said Ayame.

"We believe you," Chinatsu assured her.

"We know you wouldn't lie about something like that, Mi-chan."

Ayame nodded. "A girl's first romantic kiss is supposed to be very special and meaningful."

Yuuko grabbed one of Mimi's pillows and hugged it tightly while growing starry-eyed. "I can't wait for my first _real_ kiss."

Mimi couldn't help but smile at her friend. Before either Ayame or Chinatsu could tease Yuuko for being a hopeless romantic, there was a knock on Mimi's door. "Hey girls," the owner of the voice greeted to them after entering.

"Good evening Nishimura-san," the three girls replied.

"Wow, Mimi-chan," exclaimed Sué, "you look wonderful!"

"Th-thanks."

"I sometimes wish I was young again so that I can wear something as nice as that," the woman told them with a laugh. "Age and having children have a way of affecting one's girlish figure."

Yuuko, who always had the most mature-looking body of the group, Mimi being second, spoke up. "I think I'll skip out on having children," she stood up and started to twirl and walk around as if in a fashion show, "so that I may keep this beautiful figure of mine."

"You mean the figure that no boy ever notices since they're all noticing Mimi-chan?" laughed Ayame.

"Hey!"

"I'm just kidding," she sniggered.

"Well, I came up to see if you all needed anything."

"No, I'm fine, I'm just a little nervous."

"What for?" her aunt inquired. "I figured that this type of an event would be your kind of thing."

"Well, I _am_ responsible for all of this. It's out of the ordinary for this type of an event, but they can be _so_ much fun. I just hope everything goes well."

"Don't worry about it," her aunt told her gently. "I'm sure everything will go fine, and everyone will be grateful to you for helping with it. Just think of it as an event being sponsored by one of the clubs."

"But it's still a _dance_."

Yuuko laughed. "Mi-chan, stop with all of the worrying. The dance will go fine!"

The other two and Mimi's aunt continued to persuade Mimi into not worrying.

"Okay, okay, I'll _try_ to calm down over it," Mimi laughed.

"There we go," her aunt smiled. "If you all don't need anything, I'll catch you later. Have fun at the dance, and I can't wait to hear all about it."

With that, the woman left. After she did so, Ayame started to work on Mimi's hair again, while Yuuko supervised. Once Mimi was fully satisfied, she thanked them.

"Well, we better get going," Chinatsu said while looking down at her watch. "Ishida-san should be getting here soon."

"Oh yeah, you're right. I'll walk you guys down."

After wishing Mimi good luck once again, the group made their way down the stairs, and opened the front door. Mimi had rushed back to get something. To the three girls' surprise, they found a redhead standing there. He was _just_ about to ring the bell when the door suddenly opened.

"Koushirou-kun, what are _you_ doing here?" asked Yuuko suspiciously.

"I-I just wanted to speak with Mimi-san," the boy responded nervously, his voice low and quiet.

She stepped up to the taller boy, and stared him straight in the eye. "What for?"

"If you were Mimi-chan, then he would tell you."

"Chi_natsu_-chan!"

"She's right, you know. Neither of us are her, so he doesn't have to tell us anything."

"A_ya_me-chan!"

Right at that moment, Mimi walked out. "What's going on?" She noticed the boy standing at her doorstep, with Yuuko giving him curious looks. "_Kou_shirou, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Well, I-I-I just w-wanted to talk to you for a while before you left for your dance."

Ayame grabbed one of Yuuko's arms. "Saa..."

"...ikimashou, Yuuko-chan," Chinatsu finished up, while grabbing the girl's other arm.

"But I want to know what they're going to talk about! I'm supposed to keep up with the latest gossip!" she shouted while being led away. Streaked tears streamed down her face. "No fair!"

After the girls left, a kicking Yuuko being dragged behind, Mimi put her attention back on Koushirou. "So, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to see you...I guess," he murmured shyly.

"Oh-kay..." the girl responded slowly.

"I-I also wanted to wish you good luck." He felt himself growing more and more nervous. "I know how important this dance is to you, even though I didn't act like it was when you first told me that you were going."

Mimi inwardly smiled and realized that Koushirou, in his own way, was apologizing for all that had happened before she went to Odaiba Elementary. She could tell that he was sorry, but as she'd mentioned earlier to him, she'd gotten over being upset long ago.

"Thanks, and that's okay. I really appreciate your coming over here just to see me off."

"I hope that both you and Yamato-san have a really good time at-at the dance."

"I wish you were going."

He gave off a light chuckle. "No underclassmen, remember? Besides, it's more common for a guy to ask out a younger girl than for a girl to ask out a younger guy, and even if that were so, who would ask me anyway?"

"Age doesn't matter between couples and friends." She smiled at him. "I would ask you if _I _were an upperclassman." She sighed. "Too bad Sora-san is going along with Taichi-san, and I just found out from Miyako-chan that Chizuru-san managed to get a partner. You could have gone along with either one of them if they didn't already have partners."

"Ehehe, Mimi-san, don't worry about me. Please enjoy your dance."

"You're right! I shouldn't be worrying."

He gave her a forced smile, which Mimi didn't seem to notice, due to how excited she was for the dance. Koushirou was about to compliment her on her attire, until a certain, handsome blonde-haired boy started to make his way up the Nishimura walkway, wearing a snazzy suit and holding a beautiful white corsage. This was a formal westernized dance, and the girls wearing a corsage was pretty much the thing to do, as Mimi had informed the committee early on. Mrs. Takenouchi's flower shop was _the_ place to go to pick up the orchids, and most everyone had. Mimi was really hoping that everyone would enjoy such an event. When living in America, and her school had formal dances and events, Michael would always go along as her partner.

"Hey, it's Yamato-san!" she squealed in excitement. "It's _finally_ time to go!"

Yamato made it to the front door. "Hey Mimi," he greeted with a smile. "Hey Koushirou, what are you doing here?"

"Just passing by," he told him nonchalantly with a hint of envy, which went unnoticed.

"Okay." He turned his attention back on Mimi. "You look very nice."

She blushed. "Th-thank you, Yamato-san."

Mimi's hair was pulled up elegantly into a bun, with some of her wavy locks hanging down her back loosely. Her ball-like gown was white and frilly with spaghetti-strapped sleeves, white gloves, a small, matching handbag, and matching white shoes.

Koushirou felt that the dress was pretty on her too, and to him, she came across as looking like a beautiful princess, but he still found it awkward and strange that he would actually think of her in that fashion voluntarily. The way he viewed her at the moment, was the same way he did when walking her home all those nights ago where he had gotten "caught in her gaze, staring into her clear, innocent brown eyes," underneath that moonlit sky that shone brightly down on the pair of them. He shook off those thoughts, and felt it was best to not overstay his welcome.

"I should get going," he mumbled. He then looked to Yamato, and seemed to grimace at him, which also went unnoticed by his friend. "Have fun."

"Bye, Koushirou," both waved to him as he turned and walked away.

While walking off, he was trying to figure out what the actual point of his going over to Mimi's truly was, aside from his just feeling that he should go over there. He was currently feeling a slight dislike towards Yamato, but still didn't understand why. He could have any girl he wanted, which was something that constantly came to mind for him, but why Mimi of all people? A majority of girls liked Yamato, like Mimi's friend Yuuko, as it was no big secret to anyone who knew her. She was always loud about it. Either way, that still didn't change the fact that Yuuko wasn't the only girl who openly liked Yamato, but now according to Miyako's observational skills, Yamato could be falling for Mimi.

'But why do I care?'

He kept muttering this to himself as he headed back home before he was fully missed, as he was only supposed to have gone to the store and back...

x x x x

Over at Takaishi place, the younger members of the Chosen Children's group were spending it with Takeru, which included a slightly more upbeat Miyako. She was feeling better compared to the previous day, and realized that spending time with Takeru and the others would probably cheer her up some. After the short discussion about Koushirou's where-a-bouts, and how Miyako had been the one to inform Gennai that Koushirou was home safe-and-sound, who passed it along to Tentomon to ease his worries, she and Takeru explained to the others of the dance, and how Yamato had asked Mimi to go with him as his partner. All were sitting in various spots of Takeru's room.

"I wonder what dances are actually like," the photographer of the group queried from Takeru's bed.

"I'm not sure, but Mimi-sama said that in America, they're really fun," Miyako assured her, who was sitting next to her. "I think they have cakes and everything at those types of things."

"Do you think we'll be able to go to one too?"

"Oh, Hikari-chan," Miyako smiled, "I'm sure of it! If it's a hit, they'll just _have_ to keep it around!"

"I kind of wish we were old enough to go now," she uttered bashfully. "Oh, did your sister ever manage to get a partner for the dance?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention it?" Hikari nodded. "She was asked by a 19-year-old boy."

"Wow, he's practically an adult!" exclaimed Hikari.

Daisuke, who was sitting on the floor beside Ken and Iori, whistled. "Your parents would allow someone that age to take your sister to something like that? I don't think my parents would've let Jun do something like when she was your sister's age."

"Well, it's only okay because he's a friend of hers. His family and our family grew up together. Our parents all know each other from years ago. Manobu-niichan has a girlfriend, though. He's only taking her as a favor. My sisters and I are all like sisters to him, and he's pretty good friends with my brother. Chizu-nee was just teasing me the other day to try and get me to come home sooner."

"Well, at least Chizuru-san is going," Hikari pointed out. "I'm sure a lot of people will take notice of her and her partner."

"Bingo! I think she did say something like that. She kept saying weird things before leaving earlier about wanting to show someone she could get a good partner too or something. I couldn't catch who she said, though, and when I asked, she told me to go away," Miyako told her friend. 'It really almost sounded like she said 'Yamato-kun'...but maybe I was hearing her wrong...'

Leaning back in his chair at his desk, Takeru asked, "If you all are finished discussing partners and dates, what do you guys want to do tonight?"

"I know, I know!" started Daisuke excitedly. "Let's sneak over to the dance!"

"Are you trying to get in trouble before attending Odaiba Junior High next month?"

"I'm sure he's only joking, Iori-kun," Ken insisted with a sweat drop.

"How about we go out for karaoke?" Miyako suggested.

With that, Daisuke stood up, took in a deep breath, and started to purposely sing off-key. "*Goggle wa akashi daze...Anohito kara ore e to...Watasareta taisetsu na monshou to onaji na no sa~...Kakkoii daro!"

"Sing like that," joked Takeru, "and they'll kick us out of the room we use."

Daisuke, and everyone else, laughed as he retook his seat.

"At this time of night, wouldn't karaoke be a bit _too_ expensive?"

"Hm, Iori-kun is right," Takeru nodded. "Prices at night are pretty high."

"Well, how about we all discuss our spring vacation plans," Hikari proposed.

Takeru sighed heavily. "Absolutely nothing this year."

"Well, some classmates and I were thinking about taking a camping trip at some point, why don't we do so as well?"

"Camping sounds like fun," Ken complimented. "Why _don't_ we take one?"

"I'm not all that thrilled about a camping trip," Hikari admitted.

"A _real_ vacation would be nice," mumbled Daisuke.

"Well, there's one advantage of our taking a camping trip together," Iori started.

"What's that?" asked Miyako.

"We could always go to the Digital World for our camping trip while spending time with our partners. We haven't seen them in a while since we've all been busy with school activities, especially you all. I see Armadimon much more than you all see your partners now, seemingly."

"I'm with Iori-kun. I would like to see Wormmon, and I'm sure we all were planning to visit at some point over our breaks. We should just make a camping trip of it, but we just decide on a specific area in the Digital World to camp out in. We have more freedom now to do that."

"Okay, let's plan it out then!" Miyako exclaimed. "And while we're brainstorming, we could play cards. Don't you have some, Takeru-kun?"

"Yeah, yeah." He opened up his desk drawer and pulled out a deck of cards.

After deciding on a game to play, the group went on to discuss the different areas of the Digital World, and when a good time to go would be...

x x x x

When Yamato and Mimi left her place, Yamato greeting Mimi's aunt beforehand, the two met up with both Taichi and Sora, and headed to the dance which was being held at their school in the gym. It was elegantly decorated thanks to Chizuru and the rest of the decorating committee. The music was also a nice choice for the dance. The music was also diverse, as it didn't only include current pop music, but slow songs as well for waltzing to.

When the group walked in, Yamato and Mimi garnered a lot of attention. Some of the stares they received were ones of awe, due to how glamorous Mimi looked, while others were those of jealousy since she was with the heartthrob of the school. The same went for Yamato, as he received a few hateful looks for being with Mimi, a girl who had pretty much turned down invitations for dates with every single boy who had ever approached her. Some of the stares were of pure curiosity of how the most popular boy and girl in school would be dressed. Mimi, though, ignored the glares, as she did notice them, and decided to have a good time, even if she _did_ wish Koushirou was there with her.

Yamato and Mimi weren't the only ones who drew a lot of attention, Chizuru and her partner did as well. She was there with an older guy, after all. Chizuru spoke with Yamato briefly, but he didn't pay much attention to her nor did he think anything of her escort, as his attention was more so on Mimi, but he did compliment her on the great job she did with a grateful smile. He also asked if she'd like to join him and the others after the dance. This annoyed Chizuru partly, Yamato's somewhat ignoring her, but decided to put it aside and try to enjoy this new experience.

As of the moment, Yamato was walking a limping Mimi home from the school dance. He was holding her waist with one of his arms, and for her to keep her balance, had her put her arm around his shoulder. It was earlier than expected for the both of them, but he didn't mind helping the girl home.

"I'm sorry about what happened," Yamato apologized.

"That's okay. It's not _your_ fault that I'm so clumsy."

During one of the faster songs, Mimi insisted on dancing, even though Yamato wasn't fully into the idea of dancing as it's just something he didn't do. While Mimi was dancing as best as she could in her white heels, she slipped up on a slick area of the gym floor. She hurt her ankle in the process and fell, dragging Yamato down with her when trying to regain her balance.

Sora and Taichi offered to walk back with them, but Yamato told them that they should stay and enjoy the rest of the dance and let him know how it turns out. He didn't want their evening ruined, as he knew how long Taichi had been wanting to ask Sora out in some way or form, just like he'd wanted to with Mimi.

"I'm sorry I caused you to fall when I fell."

"That's okay." He smirked. "I didn't mind."

"Well, at least we enjoyed some of the dance."

"So, what did you think of it?"

"It was nice for the little bit we were there for. Chizuru-san set up everything nicely, and even did that game I suggested for everyone to vote for the best couple at the dance." She looked up at the clear sky. "Either way, I can't wait to experience it fully next year when I'm a third year."

"At least you did have a nice time."

"I wonder who's going to win for best couple."

"Who knows, but I'm sure the two look great together and would probably make a pretty good real couple."

"You're right! I put in a vote for Taichi-san and Sora-san."

"_Tai_chi..._So_ra?" the boy slightly stumbled. 'I voted for _us_! No matter _how_ many hints I throw at her, she seems to miss _all_ of them!"

Mimi glanced over at her companion and tilted her head curiously. "Didn't you vote for them?"

"Of course, of course," he told her, his left eye twitching. "Who _else_ would I have voted for?"

This made Mimi smile widely as the two continued the remainder of the way to her place, which didn't take too much longer.

"Well, here we are, safe and sound," Yamato said while letting her go. "Do you need any help getting in?"

She shook her head. "I'll manage okay. My ankle isn't even hurting that badly anymore. You've been a great help to me already."

"No problem."

"Thanks for the walk home, and like I said earlier, I had a wonderful time, even if it was cut a bit short. I can't wait to tell Koushirou about it. Since I'm early, maybe I could call him."

"_Kou_shirou? Why him?"

"It would make sense to tell him about the dance."

"It would?"

She nodded. "He's going to be my partner for it."

"Y-Your _part_ner?"

"Yeah, we've already discussed it, and I told him that I'd love for him to go as my partner next year."

"Oh," Yamato managed to get out, too surprised to say anything more regarding Koushirou. He just wanted to get off the subject of him. "So, Mimi, would you like to hang out sometime?"

"Sure, we could invite everyone and go out someplace since our breaks are coming up. We have a little bit of free time."

"N-no, I meant just us. You know, when your ankle is fully better, maybe we could go someplace."

"Oh, I get it! Yeah, that would be fun to do again, and maybe this time, I won't have anything to be worried over," she finished up with a small laugh.

He nodded as he watched her enter the big house. He shook his head over the entire situation. He was wondering what the true issue was with Koushirou and Mimi. He'd heard about their so-called kiss too, but never got the chance to talk to Taichi about it since he, just like most everyone, was too busy to do much of anything. He was curious if Taichi had heard about the kiss, or if he was too distracted by Sora to notice. Even _he_ was starting to wonder if the two were a secret couple and just let their guard down when kissing the other day. It would explain why Koushirou was hanging around when he arrived to pick up Mimi. He shook his head at the absurdity of that. He couldn't see someone as open as Mimi keeping a secret like that. With nothing else better to do, he headed home, doubtful thoughts running through his mind, and also trying to come up with something to get Mimi's attention away from Koushirou...

x x x x

Time Mimi closed the front door and stepped out of her heels, she was attacked, and practically smothered, from the big hug she was suddenly receiving.

"I_sa_ko-chan, what are you still doing up? It's almost 21:00 (9:00)."

"Mamii said that it was okay for me to stay up and wait for you!"

Mrs. Nishimura walked in, amuse on her face. "You're home earlier than I was expecting. I wasn't expecting you home no earlier than 22:00 (10:00). I figured Isako would've fallen asleep from waiting."

"Kou-niichan was here earlier too!"

"Yes, I know. I spoke with him before I left to go to the dance."

"When you _weren't_ here! He looked a little sad," she frowned.

"We noticed him after you left. It almost looked as if he was watching you and Yamato-kun off. I was thinking that maybe he'd forgotten something, but he obviously didn't call to either of you. Isako went out to talk to him, which definitely caught him off-guard. He politely explained that he couldn't stay when inviting him in for snacks. Is there anything bothering him that you know of?"

She shook her head. "Lately he has been down, but I didn't get that impression when I left earlier. I wonder if his adoption or the pregnancy is bothering him again..."

"Adoption? Pregnancy?"

"Adoption? Mommy, what's adoption?"

"Adoption is when you can't live with your real mommy and daddy and you get a new mommy and daddy."

"Really?"

"Yes, and now that you know, and already had your bath, you can go to bed."

She frowned again, while giving her mother a pleading look, which failed, and the girl did as instructed and headed up to bed. Once everything was settled with Isako, Sué returned to the kitchen, where Mimi was sitting at the table. The woman prepared some tea for the pair of them and soon joined her.

"So," her aunt began, "how was the dance?" The girl explained how she fell, but despite that, she still managed to have a good time. "Now, back to Koushirou-kun, what were you saying about an adoption and pregnancy?"

"Oh, well, see, that history assignment we were working on was supposed to be about our family history. Since mama and papa aren't here, Ishidzuka-sensei gave me the choice of doing the assignment or not. I could've done it easily, but I didn't mind getting out of the assignment," she said with a laugh. "Since Koushirou-kun was never very good with family-themed assignments, I was assigned to be his partner. Instead of talking to Mr. and Mrs. Izumi, he wanted to find answers in other places, like Hikarigaoka, since he did live there before Odaiba. To make a long story short, I discovered that the Izumis weren't his real parents, and that his biological parents died in a car crash shortly after he was born. The Izumis adopted him. He was really interested in seeing what they looked like and learning about them. The people who did know them kept talking about how he looked a lot like his mother.

"Now, as for the pregnancy, at first, he seemed to have a problem with the idea of it. Mrs. Izumi is pregnant."

"Was he jealous or something?"

"No, that wasn't really it, and I'll never be able to fully understand it, but I think he was a little insecure over it. He's known about his adoption for years, but never shared it with the Izumis. He seemed to be worried about what his place in his family truly was since he wasn't an Izumi by blood. The newborn child would be an actual Izumi by blood. He said something like, he only has the name Izumi and how he wasn't a real one."

"Hm, I think I understand that. He probably felt inadequate over his place in the family, like you said. He probably always felt this way, and I have heard stories about people who felt they were an embarrassment to their families because of their being adopted into it. They feel as if they're poison to that family's name and bloodline. It's an old-fashioned way of thinking, and seems Koushirou-kun believed in that to some extent."

"I wonder...if that's why..."

"What do you wonder?"

"Nothing," Mimi told her, while thinking back to when she and he were in elementary school. 'He always came across as being very closed up...maybe that's why he didn't seem to let people get close to him. Maybe he was afraid of someone discovering his secret and being an embarrassment to the Izumis, like Sué-bachan said. Maybe that's why he's always been so polite and distant with all of us, but it's like Sora-san said...he's more open than he was years ago, but still seems he has a long way to go until he opens up fully, and who knows if he ever will.'

"Well, I guess I'll have to congratulate Yoshie-san on the pregnancy. I'm surprised she hasn't mentioned it to me yet, unless she's been busy."

Mimi stood, and winced some while limping slightly out of the kitchen. "Mimi-chan, where are you going?"

"I'm going over to the Izumis. I want to talk to Koushirou."

"Oh no you're not, besides, you could always _call_; you don't have to head over there. You should head up to your room and rest your foot. I'll bring you an icepack. What kind of an aunt am I? I should've checked your ankle when you first got here. You don't want it to swell."

"Yeah, you're probably right," the girl agreed with a dejected sigh and a nod.

She headed up to her room and changed into her bed clothes. Once done, she slumped down on her bed, and stared out of her window wistfully, wondering what could have been bothering her redheaded friend. For the rest of the night, he was on her mind, and she still couldn't help but wish that he'd been her partner as opposed to Yamato. She felt it was strange that she would even think of him in that way, but couldn't truly explain it, or that strange feeling she sometimes got in her stomach when thinking about him, or even after she gave him that quick kiss before leaving to meet up with Sora the other day.

She wanted to think of Koushirou as Koushirou, not as a boy that she found a slight attraction to that she _could_ be falling for. With a sigh, she took notice of the brightest star in the sky...

x x x x

Ironically, at the same time as Mimi, Koushirou was sitting in _his_ room, staring out of his window, thinking about Mimi, and curious as to how the dance was going for her. To his knowledge, she should have still been there. He, too, took notice of the brightest star in the sky that seemed to stand out...

x x x x

'Koushirou...'

x x x x

'Mimi-san...'

x x x x

'...what is it about you that makes me feel this way...why do things have to change?'

Author's Note

Note 1: This is a verse from Daisuke's image theme, _Goggle Boy_. The part that I chose translates to:

**Goggle wa akashi daze... (These Goggles is the proof...)**

**Anohito kara ore e to... (Passed on from him to me...)**

**Watasareta taisetsu na monshou to onaji na no sa (They're as precious [or important, as taisetsu (na) can mean important] as a crest)**

**Kakkoii daro! (Aren't they cool!)**

I always liked that part of the song most because, to Daisuke, Taichi's goggles symbolize courage, and those goggles represent Daisuke's Crest of Courage. The song in general is about how he cherishes the goggles that Taichi gave him, and I guess how he's going to always take care of them, as he sees them as very important and treats them as a treasure.

Fic Chapter Change

The first chapter change is the intro and will be the only change mentioned, due to the fact that everything else for the chapter were time changes, dialogue changes and dialogue swaps (for example, since I pretty much made Chinatsu a "tomboy" I gave some of her more girly dialogue to either Yuuko or Ayame). Anyway, originally, due to a partial block, I wrote in an incredibly out of character scenario which started off with Mimi questioning RP as to who the "surprise visitor" was (because of the title of this chapter) and thinking the wrong thing and rushing off in embarrassment. Michael then shows up and commented on how Mimi was never so strange when in New York and RP went on about how she wouldn't know about that type of thing. Michael then complains about how if he had a role as Mimi's boyfriend for the fic, that RP would've known about something like that. Ah, what the hey, I'll post it up here for all to see anyway. lol

Mimi: Surprise visitor? (Gives RP an annoyed look) Don't you think that's a bit _too_ personal!

RP: What are you talking about?

Mimi: You know what I am talking about! I don't want everyone to know of my visitor!

RP: Why not? You don't even know who it is yet...

The girl started to complain some more until she realized what RP said.

Mimi: Wait, did you say "who" as in a person?

RP: Yeah, what else would I be talking about?

Mimi: (Nervous tone) Um, nothing. Hehehe. (Looks at her watchless wrist) My, my, my, look at the time. I better get going. ^^;

The girl laughs nervously and takes off.

RP: (Shakes head) Weird...

Michael: I'll say. She never acted that weird back in New York.

RP: I wouldn't know now would I?

Michael: Yeah, that's true, but if I were actually in your fic as Mimi's boyfriend, I could tell you about these things...

RP: Sorry Mike, you and Mimi aren't paired up for this fic.

Michael: I wanted to talk to you about that! How could you do something so cruel! I only have two fics of yours where we are an actual couple and that other fic of yours doesn't count since we broke up, apparently, and she got with someone else! You never wrote us together _to_ break us up! And for the other one, you had that Mimi and me were a couple, but it's just mentioned since I wasn't in that particular fic!

RP: (Sighs) You're worse than Tentomon with the complaining.

Michael: Okay, I'll quit complaining about that, but could I at least make one appearance in this fic?

RP: (Smirks) Nope, sorry, besides this is your one appearance. You will just have to wait until I decide to use you, if I actually decide to.

Michael: (Muttering) We International Chosens never get any respect...

RP: Let's leave Michael alone folks so you all can read on about Mimi's, (sarcastic tone), magical evening with her Prince Charming...

Koushirou: I resent that!

Michael: So do I!

Koushirou: What are _you_ doing here?

Michael: I demand that I become Mimi's boyfriend for this fic! I should be her Prince Charming!

Koushirou: Why? I have more of a chance than you and you as her Prince Charming is highly inaccurate and uncomputable. (Sweat drops nervously/blushes slightly) I mean, since I am around and since we have a good friendship and all, I have a better chance of course. ^^

Michael: What about me?

Koushirou: What _about_ you?

Michael: I feel that I have more of chance because Mimi and I have been through so much together, even though for this fic that was years ago, and, well um...

Koushirou: Just as I thought! You can't even think of anything better than that! I have had more interaction with her than you, which proves how inaccurate your having a better chance with her, really is...

Michael: You want to take this outside, Izumi? I'll show you just how "inaccurate" my fists can be!

Koushirou: I normally don't resort to violence, but, (rolls up sleeves), this time I will make an exception! (Fighting gesture) Bring it on!

Michael: _Gladly_!

The two start to fight as a certain blonde shakes his head at the two.

Yamato: Pitiful. (Turns to RP) Can you believe that they are fighting over Mimi when neither one of them has a chance since I'm the Prince Charming you were referring to?

RP: I am not a part of this so don't include me in it...

Yamato: Quit being modest RP. (Shines his nails in a cocky fashion) You know I'm the real Prince Charming here...

Michael: Prince Charming this!

Koushirou: Yeah! I'll show you who the real Prince Charming is!

Koushirou and Michael heard what Yamato had said and tackled him who is now fighting as well.

Yamato: (Punching) Don't get mad at me because what I said is true!

Koushirou: Urusai omae! (Quiet you!)

Yamato: Make me!

Michael: Sure thing! (Punches Yama)

Yamato: Don't you start Mr. Prep! (Punches Michael)

Michael: That's a dub thing! I do _not_ sound so annoying for the original!  
x x x x  
RP: (Muttering) No kidding! I had to hit the mute button when I first saw him for the dub...  
x x x x  
Michael: (Punches Yama back) I'm the perfect guy for Mimi!

Yamato: You have as much of a chance of getting with Mimi as Koushirou has of not getting arrested for conducting illegal computer related activities!

Koushirou: I do not do anything illegal! (Punches Yama) What has Bill Gates told you! (Grabs his collar and shakes him) What has Gates told you! I demand that you tell me!

Yamato: That you'll never be able to take over Microsoft to do your own evil bidding!

Michael: (Laughs at Koushirou, but soon gets punched by him)

RP: (Sighs/shakes head at the three) Men, can't live with them and can't multiply without 'em.

*Gets a bunch of looks from the readers*

RP: Um, let us leave these three immature boys and get back to the important characters who don't make fools of themselves. ^^'

The three boys stop fighting.

Yamato/Michael/Koushirou: Hey, we aren't fools!

RP: (Clears throat) Um, yeah, whatever, now let us get back to the important characters...

Palmon: Like my Mimi!

Hawkmon: Or Miyako-san!

Agumon: Or Taichi!

Piyomon: Or Sora!

Patamon: Or Takeru!

Wormmon: Or my Ken-chan!

Gomamon: Or Jou!

Armadimon: Or Io-

Tentomon: (Interrupting) And me!

RP: Yep, all of them plus everyone else in this fic that you Digimon haven't mentioned, minus Tentomon. ^_^ (Looks at Tentomon and shakes her head) Pitiful, Tentomon, how selfish can one be...

All three boys, along with Tentomon, give RP an annoyed look as the story continues...


	28. 28  Never End

Hey again everyone. As you can see, in a way, it's completely obvious and clear that both Koushirou and Mimi have somewhat strong feelings for one another, but don't want to fully accept them. For this particular chapter, it will contain, probably, the most hints towards the pairing, and when originally writing this, I actually surprised myself with it, and to find out _why _things end up turning out the way they do, you'll see in the next chapter. You'll understand that in full as you read on, for the most part, and for those who have read the original version of this fic, the outcome will still be the same, but to see the "differences", you'll have to stick around for the added bonus chapters. Oh yes, there's another pairing "hinted" at in this chapter and no, it's not Taichi x Sora.

Anyway, the inspiration for this chapter came from the Namie Amuro song, _Never End_. At the time, my online friend, **DavidAP** sent me the song, the version found on Amuro's Love Enhanced album, which had just come out at the time. It was a singles collection and most of the songs were re-r_e_corded, and _Never End _was incredibly pretty to me and by my constantly listening to it, it helped to inspire me to write the events in this chapter. So yeah, this chapter was dedicated to him. It's unfortunate that I lost touch with him over the years.

Anyway, this entire chapter kinda deals with music, and there will be some changes. I might replace groups and all that, especially the group _dream_. Of course, as mentioned, this was originally written in 2001. The group (in 2001) was still a trio. For when this story takes place, the lead singer would've already left and the group would've been expanded to seven members (was originally eight, but one member left by March of 2004). It's a six-member group presently. Personally, I prefer first-generation _dream_, not _Morning Musume_ inspired group _dream_.

Going slightly back on topic, for the remainder of the story, it will consist of time gaps or either flashbacks. For example, this angst-filled chapter takes place in late July, but it's going to flashback to April.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 11; Second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 10; First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 14-15 (Year 09; Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 13-14 (Year 08; Second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 07; First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 05)

Chapter 28: Never End...

It was a nice, clear summer night in Odaiba. It was now late July, and for some, they were either about to start their vacation or were in the early stages of it. Sitting at his computer, typing away, was the third-year computer whiz, Koushirou, along with his faithful Digimon companion, Tentomon, who was sleeping soundly on the boy's bed. Koushirou was doing some research for the professors at the observatory. He'd been doing that quite a bit, lately, whenever he had some free time, which hadn't been too much with his increased workload at school as well as studying for entrance exams which was just a few months away. He was also staying at home more to help out his now five-month-pregnant mother as much as he possibly could.

He was trying his very best to concentrate on his current project, but he just couldn't focus, as memories from spring kept flooding his mind. It was pretty common for the boy to have these invasive thoughts, but he'd usually find a way to _not_ think about it, but was failing miserably this time around. He was being plagued by the memories of all that happened that past April when the Hanami had taken place. Since they were in the Kanto area and near the Tokyo area in general, the bloom usually took place in March or April, but depending on where one lived, the bloom could last up until May.

He stopped typing, and sighed. He stared out of his bedroom window, thinking back to the night where things had definitely changed between him and Mimi forever...

* * *

It had been a good while since the dance that Yamato had taken Mimi to. For the most part, though, nothing changed after that. Yamato did try to find every excuse possible to hang around with Mimi, even though the girl never seemed too interested in hanging around Yamato in a romantic sense. She still treated, and treasured, him like a good friend, so most thought. Koushirou, on the other hand, didn't know what to make of it. He truly sensed Yamato had ulterior motives.

As of lately, whenever time allowed it, Yamato and Mimi would hang out more, just the two of them. Due to this, Koushirou had finally come to the conclusion that he _had_ developed feelings for Mimi, and what confirmed it was how he _hated_ seeing Yamato spend time with the girl and _hated_ it when they had outings together by themselves, not that he had anything against Yamato personally. He just wished he'd _not_ hang around Mimi. Another reason he believed that he had developed romantic feelings towards the karaoke princess was how he'd react whenever she was around him or in close vicinity of him. He'd get a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach and, sometimes, lose his train of thought, which would usually lead to his wanting to hold her close to him. He just couldn't repress those feelings anymore. Ever since both he and Mimi were paired up for his history project, he'd enjoyed spending as much of his free time as possible with the girl, more than usual.

One thing that hadn't changed much was Mimi's constant boy problem. Some still bothered her, but mainly because they knew that she and Yamato weren't dating and everyone knew there was nothing going on between her and Koushirou. Misao made sure to keep tabs on that for the members of the Mimi Fan Club. Time and time again, Mimi would nicely explain how she wasn't interested and have even been forceful, like she had when she was younger, but they never seemed to get that nor were they able to take the direct hint. Persistence wasn't very becoming to her where that was concerned. Mimi's friends, her Chosen ones included who saw her regularly, could tell that it was starting to take a toll on her. Even Yuuko backed off from teasing the girl about all the admirers she had.

At the moment, Koushirou was on his way to Hikarigaoka Park to join up with Mimi and the others for all the other festival activities. Right after the viewing party earlier that afternoon, which he loved since Mimi had done the cooking for the picnic, he had to rush back home to help his mother with some things, but had promised Mimi and the others (which consisted of Jou, Sora, and Taichi, at the time), that he'd return as soon as he could. Festivals were always fun, and he didn't mind going, especially since Mimi was going to be around for it and knew the girl was going to be dressed up for it. Why she was waiting to dress up was beyond him, but he knew she was going to look elegant regardless of what she wore.

This year's festival was going to be slightly different. There was going to be a concert this year to help celebrate it, aside from the traditional way of doing so, which involved taiko drum players. Yamato's group was going to be one of the performers at the event. That was one thing Koushirou didn't have to worry about, Yamato's hanging around trying to do his best to get Mimi's attention. He and his band had been rehearsing for the majority of the day. Some other artists and groups set to perform was Amuro Namie (Amuro-chan), who of which Mimi truly enjoyed, the superstar, Hamasaki Ayumi (Ayu-chan), Utada Hikaru (Hikki), the music group, Do As Infinity (DoAs), Maeda Ai (AiM) & Wada Kouji, and an up and rising, foreign star from Korea by the name of BoA, who was not only fluent in one language when it came to speaking and listening, but three: Korean, Japanese, and English.

Everyone had planned on joining up for the festivities, but unfortunately, Miyako had to miss the viewing party and now the festival with the concert, and she was always a big pop-music fan. She had to watch the mart for the day, much to her dismay, as both her parents had to tend to business out of town for the afternoon. Neither had returned as of yet, and her sisters were too busy. Momoe was out of town with her fellow graduates in Okinawa, Chizuru had school activities that needed to be taken care of, and her brother was away on a short trip with one of his clubs. As for the rest of Mimi's friends, Jou, Sora, and Taichi had been around for the viewing, but all three had other things they had to do, and couldn't stay for the festival that night. Sora had joined Odaiba High School's Tennis Club, and had to get up the next day for an early club meet, as the club's sponsor was very strict. The same pretty much went for Taichi being apart of the soccer club. They also had testing that the first years went through to deal with. As for Jou, as much as he didn't want to leave, and they all could truly see it, he had to attend juku that evening.

Mimi was standing outside of the stage area. When Koushirou had left her, Sora, Jou, and Taichi, she had told him to meet her in front of the ticket area, and that they would head towards the stage. She had special permission to be there because of both her uncle and because of Yamato, due to his band being one of the performers. Even though the outside concert was a free event, everyone still needed a ticket for seats so that it'd be nice and organized.

So far, out of the older group, it was going to be just her and Koushirou, not that she fully minded. She enjoyed spending the extra time alone with him. More than even _she _wanted to admit. 'I wonder where Koushirou and the others are. They should've been here by now.'

Right at that moment, Koushirou walked up along with a few Chosen friends of theirs. He had run into Daisuke, Ken, Hikari, Takeru, and Iori after getting off the train. He met them all at Hikarigaoka station.

Mimi waved to the group and rushed up to them. She was wearing a pink kimono with a flower design that her mother, who was visiting Japan, along with her father, for the week, had bought her for the occasion. Her hair was tied back into a single ponytail and some of her hair hung down loosely on the sides of her face. She noticed that Hikari was wearing one as well. Hers was a bright yellowish color.

"Great, you all finally got here."

"Too bad oniichan couldn't come," sighed Hikari sadly, "but when I left him, he said that he _might_ try coming back along with Sora-san, but I'm not sure. Both need their rest."

"Jou-senpai wanted to come," Mimi explained, "but like Sora-san and Taichi-san, he's busy. He had to go to juku."

"Senpai sure studies a lot," Daisuke said with a small laugh.

Ken nodded. "Yeah, Kido-san studies a lot, but if he wants to make good test scores and maintain his good average, he has to."

The place was still a bit empty, since the concert wasn't going to start for about another 45 minutes. Mimi had wanted to meet up with everyone early so that they could wish Yamato and the other three of his group "good luck". Takeru was the most anxious, though. He really wanted to speak with Yamato.

"Takeru-san, is something the matter," asked Iori, noticing how fidgety he was coming across.

"It's nothing, I just really wanted to talk with my brother before the concert. I hope he takes a break and comes out. No one is allowed backstage before the concert, apparently, so we have to hope that _he_ comes out."

"Good luck with that," Mimi frowned slightly. "He's been rehearsing all day. We might be able to talk to him. I tried sending a good luck message through my phone, but he didn't get back to me or anything. He must be really busy."

"Too bad Miyako-san couldn't join us," Ken muttered sadly.

"I know, especially since she and Koushirou-san did a lot of mixing for my brother for this performance. I'm sure she'd want to experience it live."

"Miyako-chan likes most of the performers here tonight too," Hikari added.

"Oye, minna-san!" the group heard a voice call loudly to them.

They all turned around, to see a familiar figure with long hair, tied back neatly, making her way towards them. "It's Miyako-kun..."

She was dressed in kimono, its color being lavender. As a matter of fact, everyone was dressed up for the festival, minus Koushirou, who was in such a hurry to catch the train on time to Hikarigaoka that he just didn't have the time to put his on, not that it was mandatory to. Daisuke's kimono was blue, Iori's was beige, Ken's was gray, and Takeru's was dark green.

"Hi, everyone," the girl greeted them, out of breath.

"Great that you made it," Takeru stated cheerfully.

"My parents finally made it back. My father is watching over the store now, and to make up for coming back later than they were planning, they gave me enough money to take the bullet train here instead! I'll go back regularly with everyone else, though. I just couldn't miss out on the concert. It's so nice that Mr. Nishimura managed to get tickets for all of the close friends of Mimi-sama!"

"Yeah, it was nice of him, but don't let Yuuko-chan, Chinatsu-chan, or Ayame-chan hear you say something like that. I feel bad that I couldn't manage to get extra tickets for them."

"Those three didn't know about the tickets?" Mimi shook her head. "Oh, I better not mention it to them, but I'm sure we're bound to see them around because of the concert."

"Maybe we should all go find our seats now. I would rather be seated up front so that way, I will be able to view everything best."

"That's something you definitely won't have to worry about, Iori-kun," Mimi explained. "These tickets are for center stage, and we'll be seated in the first row. We also have passes to go backstage after the concert is done."

"Iori-kun! Iori-_kun_!"

The trainer of Kendo turned at the calling of his name. He stared wide-eyed in surprise as he saw a girl with her hair up into a single, messy pony tail wearing a light-blue kimono running towards him and the others. "_Ei_ji-san?"

She stopped and smiled to him. "Hi, Iori-kun! I didn't know you were a pop-music fan."

"I'm not, really, as I'm here more so for the festival, but since I was invited by Mimi-san here, I decided to attend. It should be very interesting. Who knows how things will turn out."

"It's nice that you decided to come! Can I join you and your friends?"

"What about your family? I'm sure you came along with them."

The girl crossed her arms hotly, and frowned. "Yeah _right_," she scoffed. "I have a ticket for the concert, but my mother is too busy with my stepbrothers and stepfather to actually stick around. We've actually been here for a while, but she had to take off and is headed back to Odaiba now. I was going to meet up with some of the girls from class, but I can't seem to find either of them, and Eijiro-niichan was too busy to come along with me, which was surprising because he _always_ goes to festivals. He's busy studying tonight for some test or something. I usually hang around with him and my aunt and uncle so much since my mother is always busy with my rotten brothers and my stepfather!"

Iori inwardly sighed, feeling slightly embarrassed. The girl was always so vocal, and was always quick to volunteer more information than what was warranted. "I'm sure it should be okay," the boy told the girl sympathetically. "Is it okay, Mimi-san?"

"Of course it is. We have three extra seat tickets and passes since Jou-senpai, Taichi-san, and Sora-san aren't here. Here you go, Eiji-chan," Mimi radiantly smiled, handing the girl one of the spare tickets and passes.

Eiji's eyes lit up, and she bowed deeply. That was something Iori wasn't used of seeing, the girl being so formal. She was usually as informal as her older cousin. "Arigatou gozaimasu! Honto ni arigatou!"

"You're welcome. It's no problem at all."

Eiji continued thanking Mimi, while Iori hoped that either Jou, Taichi, or Sora would come back unexpectedly to see the show.

More and more people began coming in, handing their tickets to the person in charge, who would point them to their assigned seats. Each row held 11 seats. Mimi hadn't been kidding about the seats. They were very good. They were definitely going to have a good experience and a great view of all the idols. Ken sat at the end of the row. Beside Ken was Miyako, then Koushirou, then Mimi, then Daisuke, then Eiji, then Iori, then Hikari, and on the end of that row, Takeru.

During the wait for the concert to begin, Takeru grabbed his pass and headed backstage. The man guarding the area was hesitant to let him do so, but then explained how he had a pass to go backstage and was the younger brother of one of the performers. Luckily for him, one of the members of the band was headed to get himself a drink, and told the guard that Takeru was "cool" and that he was who he said he was. He then managed to meet up with Yamato.

After a while, he returned to his seat, a triumphant smile on his face. "Where did you run off to?" Hikari asked in a whisper.

His triumphant smile became more of a nervous one, and whispered back, "You'll see. I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?"

He nodded, as the announcer asked for all to quiet down.

The show was a complete hit so far! Everyone was enjoying it, especially Miyako, who loved seeing all of the different idols and groups, even if she wasn't a fan of some of them or either some of them were unknown to her.

The group performing at the moment was Arashi. Daisuke just groaned, completely bored by the boy band. He didn't get what girls saw when it came to the boys that made up the group, his sister included, but he knew better than to say anything bad or negative about the group around a rabid Arashi fan, or a rabid fan of any boy group. He learned this lesson well when he spoke ill of Arashi in front of his sister a couple of years earlier. His headache lasted for quite a while from the hard smack to the back of the head that she gave him.

During the entire concert, Koushirou rarely paid any attention to any of the performances. His focus kept getting distracted by Mimi, and wondered how he had, in a way, sub-consciously, ended up beside her. Mimi, though, was captivated by all that was going on up onstage, singing along to pretty much all of the songs, not paying any notice to Koushirou at all. Lately, the redhead had been catching himself staring at her, and every time, it would make his heart beat irregularly and the unusual, to him, urge to hold her would arise. It was like he had no control over it lately. He was starting to hate himself, pretty much, as he felt like one of the Mimi Fan Club members...pathetic, as that's how he had always viewed them. Luckily, for him, he always caught himself and would stop to avoid being noticed by either her or anyone else, especially since the seating arrangement changes up during the year, and at the moment, he had a better view of the girl.

'I have to stop staring at her. This isn't normal! She, as well as the others, might think of me as some kind of a pervert if I'm caught! Mimi-san...why do you cause me to have these out of the ordinary feelings when around you...they've always been there a little, even before that project, but not as much as now...I hate it...'

The next groups to perform consisted of the amateur groups. They were all good, but everyone who knew of them – mostly the Odaiba residents who made the trip – were waiting for the Teen-Age Wolves. Once onstage, they received as much of an applause as the professionals had.

"The surprise is coming up for you," Takeru whispered quickly to Hikari.

Hikari grew alert, anxious for her "surprise". She could hardly wait for it.

After the "Wolves" performed their set amount of songs, Yamato grabbed the mic to make an announcement. "Thank you everyone! We really appreciate the support you've given us by showing up tonight. Now, we have one last song for you, and it's an original written by someone I know well..." Yamato looked down into the audience and winked. The blonde counted off, and the band began to play while Yamato gracefully sang the lyrics. The name of the song was *_Focus. _Lately, Takeru had been spending time with his older brother and the rest of the band for quite a while. They had helped him with the music portion of the song while Takeru worked on the song's lyrics. Writing was definitely his specialty, as he was inspired by his mother. Writing was the only way he knew how to convey his feelings, so he figured putting it into a song would work best, but he knew singing was out for him, and knew how Yamato had a much better singing voice than he ever would. He didn't want to even attempt singing it in fear of ruining it.

The audience listened to the beautifully written song, and Hikari couldn't help but blush over it. She noticed the reactions of those around her, and figured that Takeru obviously hadn't mentioned this surprise to anyone else, aside from Yamato. She understood the meaning of the song and looked to her right to an equally blushing Takeru, who mouthed out to her, at the same time as Yamato sang, "Kimi no kokoro no fookasu dare ni?"

She mouthed back with a nod, "Takeru-kun wa atashi no kokoro no chuushin..." Hikari just couldn't help it. That was very sweet of him to do something like that for her. She had actually started growing drawn to him again anyway, but the song just helped it along. She found it admirable and cute the way that Takeru had gone through the trouble to admit how he truly felt about her.

Most of the girls, Mimi and Miyako included, grew starry-eyed over the lyrics, while some girls imagined it as a love confession to her from Yamato. As for the others, like Koushirou, Eiji, and the majority of the guys, they felt the song was nice, but didn't think anything of it meaning wise and just clapped.

After the concert was over, everyone had their passes to go backstage, but everyone had to wait as far as the professionals were concerned, but the amateur bands were allowed guests momentarily. As for the professionals, they had to rest for a bit and make themselves presentable for the fans. The others didn't mind too much, as they were still able to congratulate the Teen-Age Wolves on a job well done, since there were many things to do, like eat snacks from the many vendors and play the festival games. Takeru and Hikari decided to spend time together alone for a while, just to talk. Daisuke, at the last moment, noticed the two walking off, and eyed them suspiciously, but hearing Eiji going on about the festival games partially got his attention. With a grumble, he mentioned to the others that he was going to play some games, even though, in reality, he wanted to see what Takeru and Hikari were up to, but never got around to doing so, as Eiji, who was dragging Iori along, joined him before he could do anything. She wanted to eat snacks and play the festival games and knew how Daisuke was definitely into games due to Iori.

The only ones left now were Ken, Miyako, and Koushirou. Yamato had asked Mimi to stay back when they were all leaving, so she did so.

"That old Daisuke! He didn't even wait around for us!" huffed Miyako.

"N-neither did Takeru-san or Hikari-san," Ken pointed out slowly, coming to a realization he was surprised that not even Miyako had yet to notice. It had finally hit him that the song was meant for Hikari and Takeru's actions before the concert and after were curious. He was overly anxious to meet up with his brother before the show, and his just taking off was odd. It was unlike either of them to just leave without actually announcing it.

"Oh yeah, they did." Not caring one way or the other that Takeru and Hikari had taken off, Miyako rubbed her hands together greedily. "Oh well; why don't we play some of the games and eat some of the foods!"

"Yeah, that sounds alright. Should be fun."

"I'm going to stay here and wait around for Mimi-san. You guys can go on ahead. We'll meet up with you soon."

"Well, okay," Ken stated simply.

"Aww," Miyako whined, as she _really_ wanted him to join in, "could you _please_ come along with us?"

"Mimi-san probably won't be long; especially since I'm sure Yamato-san wants to hurry up and join in on the festivities too. How about telling me which game you'll be playing or which vendor or booth you plan to be near, and then we can join you. I just hope we'll be able to, given how crowded it'll definitely be."

"Hm, how about the goldfish scooping game?" The boy gave the girl one of his Kaiser grins. "How about I win a goldfish for you, Miyako-san?"

She laughed. "I've never seen anyone win that yet. I always lose. I can never scoop the goldfish because the paper always rips."

"Who knows, maybe we'll both have good luck and win this time and maybe we'll meet back up with Daisuke and Iori-kun," Ken told her with confidence. He figured that, right now, leaving Takeru and Hikari alone was for the better. He was also curious if "Motomiya" had tried interfering and hoped that he hadn't.

With that, the two rushed off to join the many others for the festival activities, searching for the booth with the goldfish scooping game, leaving Koushirou standing around while waiting for Mimi and Yamato. Miyako didn't mind leaving him behind _too_ much, since he did say "we", which she figured included Yamato.

After the two had left, Koushirou held his stomach. He didn't know why he had such a dreaded feeling about Mimi and Yamato. That was his main reason for sticking around to wait.

A short while later, he saw Mimi finally leaving from backstage. To him, she looked to be in deep thought, and confused.

"Hey, Mimi-san."

She walked right past the boy. She hadn't even realized that anyone had spoken to her or that he was even there, due to her being preoccupied over the conversation she'd just had with the blonde musician. Koushirou ran up beside her to try and get her attention again.

"Mimi-san?"

She stopped walking, and noticed Koushirou giving her a curious, yet concerned, look. "Oh, hi, Koushirou..." she answered him distantly.

Something just wasn't right. She didn't sound enthusiastic or as happy as she had before she went to speak with Yamato. "Is something wrong?"

She started to say something, but a certain blonde-haired boy ran up to her. Being part of the amateur groups, he was free to do whatever he wanted. The other band members were planning on taking suit. "Are you ready to play some festival games, Mimi?"

She shot Yamato a look, which clearly meant for him to back off for a while. Slightly disturbed, he got the message and backed away slightly.

"Oh, um, so you're not finished yet. Well, um, I'll go back to the stage area and wait around for you there. How's that?"

She nodded, and gave him a half smile. The boy walked off, leaving the two alone. It was a beautiful night, and all of the stars were clearly visible, but there was still a lot of noise around due to the many people playing the games and talking excitedly about the concert.

"Um...Koushirou, do you mind if we go to another part of the park that's a bit quieter so that we can talk?"

"S-sure, no problem."

The two walked along in silence to the section of the park which had only the sakura trees. Some were lit up as it had grown dark out, and there were some people still having viewing parties, but along the pathway, where people were admiring the beauty of the fully bloomed cherry blossoms, seemed to consist mostly of couples walking around hand-in-hand.

"It really is pretty out here," Mimi told Koushirou suddenly as she stopped. She looked up at the sky, moving some of the hair from her face, as it had grown pretty windy. "I bet that star is the north star," she told the boy with an uneasy laugh.

Even though he was worried, he smiled a bit. She was never the best at astronomy. "You're close," he humored her. All of a sudden, the two heard music being played from the stage area faintly, which started to grow and become more distinguishable. "Is there going to be another concert?"

"Amuro-chan has another performance coming up soon, so she's practicing some more, I think," Mimi explained. "Yamato-san mentioned it to me."

"Oh, that explains it." He noticed the look on Mimi's face. It was almost as if she were procrastinating, and her tone sounded very strained and uneasy. "Mimi-san...what's wrong?"

She decided to stop holding back and to let him know what was on her mind. Right when she was about to talk, Mimi recognized the song that "Amuro-chan" was now rehearsing. It was one of her older works, *_Never End_. Koushirou could hear it clearly too, but he didn't pay it any mind. His focus was entirely on Mimi.

"Does whatever you have to say concern Yamato-san?" She nodded slowly, her voice suddenly lost. "Did he upset you? If so, I could try speaking with him."

"No, no! He didn't do anything bad to me! I just wanted to tell you something." Her eyes started to sting, as she tried to hold back tears. Why she felt like crying was beyond her. "It's really good news."

'If this news is so good, why is she acting this way?' he wondered in thought. "_Good_ news?" he asked her skeptically. 'That feeling is back...that same weird feeling I had earlier.' He obliviously held his stomach. 'It's overwhelming now and it almost feels painful.'

Her tone was still nervous, and she now wore a listless smile. The radiance she had before meeting up with Yamato was gone. "W-well, I...he...we are...on...well, you see...we are planning...well...to sorta...start...d-dating..."

Mimi closed her eyes, and breathed out in relief. She had finally managed to get that off of her chest. Koushirou, on the other hand, was surprised to hear such news. He tried his best to remain content, though. He liked Mimi..._really_ liked her, and one of his best friends had snatched her away from him. The same friend who had girls throw themselves at him on an almost daily basis. The one who was insanely popular, *which both he and Taichi had joked about at times, regarding the blonde, much to Yamato's chagrin. The one who could have almost any girl he wanted as they were always available to him...but why Mimi?

Yamato had asked Mimi, in not so many words, if they could become more than just friends, but before Mimi could agree to that entirely, she explained how she had to speak with Koushirou first. He gave in to her wishes, even though he found the request a strange one, and had gone off to look for her redheaded friend. This wasn't the first time Yamato had said something like that, as he had hinted around to it many times of how he really wanted the two of them to get together. Performing the song that his brother had written had helped convince him to be more direct about it, instead of dropping the same old hints. He had told Mimi that the way Takeru felt about Hikari was the same way that _he_, surprisingly, felt about her, even if the lyrics couldn't apply to him fully. The meaning was still the same. Mimi hated stringing him on the way that she had been inadvertently doing, and agreed that it was time to take it to the next level, but that wasn't her _main_ reason for doing so.

"Th-that's great, Mimi-san," the redhead managed to get out, while trying to hide his envy, as the news had upset him tremendously. "I wish you and Yamato-san the best of luck," he told her with a crooked smile.

She felt like crying. In a way, she felt as if she had broken up with Koushirou, even though the two had never actually officially been together. Mimi actually had a _terrible_ crush on Koushirou since she'd grown closer to him over the past few weeks, just as Koushirou had. For a while, though, she wouldn't even admit it to herself that she liked the boy, although, she had been sub-consciously growing fond of him even before the assignment was given. She wouldn't _allow _herself to like him in that way and was hoping that by getting together with Yamato, that it would help her get over Koushirou, even though, that just led to an even bigger reason as to why she refused to consciously acknowledge having feelings for Koushirou.

"Is that all you have to say?" the girl asked, her eyes watering. "I know there's probably more."

"No, not really," he answered plainly, his eyes fixated on the ground. He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, his shoulders partially hunched, while kicking at the ground. "You just wanted to share your good news with me and I can understand that." He lifted up his head and noticed that the girl had started shedding tears. "D-don't cry, Mimi-san," the boy panicked while waving his hands, "I didn't mean to upset you."

She shook her head and wiped some of her tears away. "No, you didn't upset me." She had no intention of telling him why she was crying, especially since she still didn't fully know herself. "I just hope that we can still be good friends."

He forced on another smile, his voice a little shaky. "_Sure_ we can!" He hated lying to the girl. Koushirou was certain that the two could still be friends, but it wasn't going to change the fact that he now saw Mimi as more than just the girl who used to wear pink all the time or the girl who would be quick to complain at the first sign of discomfort. He saw her as a beauty who had a wonderful personality and was fun to be around. A girl he felt he could share almost anything with. A girl that he felt he could do anything for. A girl that made him have feelings he'd, otherwise, never experienced or felt before towards any other human being. He wanted to tell her that _badly_, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, as the words just wouldn't come out. Sharing his feelings over something so personal of that nature was one thing he _still_ hadn't grown used of doing and he still bottled up all of _those_ types of feelings. He would normally put everything in the back of his mind and would purposely preoccupy himself with some other task to get over anything that may have been a bother to him or to get it off of his mind.

"I'm glad you're taking this well. I thought you would've ended up hating me."

"I could never hate you, and why _wouldn't_ I take your news well? You are now officially the girlfriend of one of the most popular boys in Odaiba who can get any girl he wants just by blinking, but I'm okay with it." He stopped after making his unintentional sarcastic remark. He noticed Mimi's frown. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come across that way. I guess I'm a bit more surprised than I realized. I didn't know that you liked him in that way...didn't know that you went for guys like Yamato-san, not that there's anything wrong with him."

"Yeah, it is surprising, but never mind that. I just want _us _to still be friends." She grabbed the boy's hands, her eyes completely flooded. Her sudden grasping of his hands caused him to gasp slightly in surprise. "I don't want our friendship to _ever_ end, Koushirou! _Promise_ me that!"

He looked into her pure, tear-filled eyes, and nodded. "I-I promise...our friendship will never end..."

What happened next was a surprise to the pair, and neither knew what exactly prompted it, but the two leaned in instinctively and kissed. The petals from the cherry blossom trees blew around them in the gentle wind. Koushirou pulled the girl closer to him, his heart racing, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. For both, this was their first "real" kiss. It was a long and passionate kiss the two shared, one that Mimi definitely considered meaningful and worth waiting for.

After the two broke, both blushed furiously, Koushirou more so after realizing how he'd held her by her narrow waist. He couldn't quite explain what had come over him to do such a thing. Mimi was naturally surprised as well, but in a way, she was glad that it had happened.

She started to back away from Koushirou, mixed emotions running through her mind. She liked Koushirou, shared a passionate kiss with him, loved every moment of it, and would've loved sharing another one with him, and yet, she was still going to run back to Yamato. Her head may have been saying, "Yamato", but her heart was _screaming_ "Koushirou!"

"What...just...happened..." asked Koushirou in a daze, not sure of whether or not he should be apologizing for some reason.

"I-I-I don't know! It-it-it just ha-happened."

Neither could say much of anything and just stood there, listening to the song Amuro was practicing. She was just about to finish up _Never End_. This caused Mimi to feel even worse, as in her eyes, she always felt that despite how beautiful the song was, it came across as sad too. To Mimi, it was like a break up song.

Mimi whispered with a sob, "I'm sorry" and ran off, even though more than anything, she wanted to throw herself into his arms and just have him hold her like he'd done that time back in the computer lab. She didn't understand what had happened. She couldn't like him. She wouldn't _let_ herself like him in that way! It wasn't meant to be.

"Mimi-san..." Koushirou stared after her as she ran away from him. Seeing her run off left him more puzzled than what he was before. What did it mean? Did she _hate_ him? Why did she feel the need to share such news with him of all people in the first place? Did she want his blessing and approval? Why did they kiss? Why didn't they stop? Why didn't _Mimi_ stop or push away? Why didn't _he_ stop? These questions, amongst many more, wracked the brain of the young computer whiz for the remainder of the night.

He never did join back up with Miyako and the others for the rest of the festival, and messaged them to let them know that he wasn't feeling well and was heading home early. He just wasn't up to it and definitely didn't want to face anyone. He wasn't even hungry. He had too much on his mind to even notice his emptying stomach.

His feelings were also very mixed. He felt upset, jealous, envious, and content all at the same time. He was upset because of Mimi's decision to date Yamato, jealous and envious because Yamato was now officially Mimi's boyfriend, and content because he had managed to share a kiss with the girl. He held his head in confusion as he was still mixed up. Why would Mimi give him such a kiss just to run back to Yamato?

He stuck his hands into his pockets, and walked back to the station. He _just_ didn't get it. What did Mimi want? What did she see in Yamato? But the main question that still continued to pop into mind was, "Why did we kiss?"

* * *

Koushirou sighed over the entire situation, recalling how he never did find out what Mimi did after she'd run off, although Miyako mentioned to him that Mimi seemed different in some way when they did end up meeting up with her and Yamato. The two did remain good friends, as promised, but it was still awkward being around her at times, since he still liked her, and had yet to get over her. He actually would think that Mimi's telling him of how she chose Yamato was just some bad dream, but knew better. She _had_ chosen Yamato over him, even though he never actually made any attempt to try and hook up with her, just secretly desired to deep down.

"Koushirou-han..._Kou_shirou-han!"

He turned his head to see Tentomon flying in front of him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Tentomon. I was just so busy thinking about this research for Professor Nagare that I grew distracted."

Tentomon shook his head. He didn't believe him. "Is something wrong, Koushirou-han?"

"No, everything's fine."

"Are you sure? I've been trying to get your attention for almost five minutes now. You were spaced out."

"It's the research."

Tentomon sighed discouragingly. "Couldn't we go spend some time with the others? It's boring doing nothing but research. It'd be nice to see the rest of your friends and the other Digimon." Tentomon flew up to the window and pointed outside. "It's really nice out tonight, Koushirou-han. Why don't you go out?"

"That's okay. I'll stay here. I really want to work on mapping out these star charts for Professor Nagare. I've put it off for far too long and after that, I wanted to discuss some things with Gennai-san."

"If you insist," he sighed, but then mumbled under his breath, "but I still would rather spend time around some of the others."

Koushirou turned his attention back to his computer, when an icon started to blink on the screen.

"Koushirou-han, you have mail." He nodded and clicked the icon. Tentomon, who was flying behind his shoulder, read the e-mail address and identified the sender. "It's from Mimi-han." Koushirou ignored it and went back to his research. "Aren't you going to read your e-mail?"

"I'll check it later. I really should finish this."

"But it could be important. She's your friend."

The redhead grew slightly annoyed over the Digimon's revelation, and gave him a sour look. "Don't you think I _know_ that? ! Don't you think that I know that Mimi-san is my friend and how that's the way it'll always be between us? ! I _know_ that all too well, Tentomon! You don't have to remind me of it!"

"Kou-Koushirou-han," began Tentomon cautiously, "are you _sure_ you're feeling okay?"

"Eh...um..." he shook his head. "I'm sorry, Tentomon. I must be getting tired. I've been here on the computer for the entire evening."

'Koushirou-han is hiding something. I've seen him spend a longer time at the computer than this and he's never acted so snappy before because of it. I wonder what's wrong and why he won't share it with me,' noted the bug-like Digimon. "What about the e-mail? Are you angry with Mimi-han?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not angry with her."

"Is she angry with you?"

"No, she is _not_ angry with me, and to prove that neither one of us is cross with one another, and I'm sure if she was, Palmon would have mentioned it, I will check her e-mail right now."

He opened up the e-mail, Tentomon reading it over his shoulder. "Wow, Mimi-han has invited you to join her tomorrow for a day-trip to the beach. Are you going to go the observatory again tomorrow instead?"

"No, I suppose I'll go. It has been a while, and I haven't done too many summer related activities yet."

"That's the spirit! It's time to have some summer fun!"

"Yeah...fun..." he trailed off. He sighed and blankly stared at the computer screen. The only thing he was wondering, was if he was the only one she had invited, as the e-mail didn't really specify one way or the other, or if it was just another Chosen Children get together, but thinking about it, he knew that it shouldn't really matter. He liked hanging around her in general, friends or no friends and shouldn't act all grumpy and selfish even if Yamato _was_ going to possibly be there. Yamato had won. The only thing that Koushirou hated about the entire situation was the fact that he, himself, didn't even try. He realized how he should have opened up and told her how he felt, even if it was unlike him to do so.

"Koushirou-han!" Tentomon called a third time.

"Oh, um, yes, Tentomon?"

"You should answer the e-mail."

"Y-yeah, you're right, I should..."

Tentomon was even more concerned. He'd never seen his partner take so long to even consider returning an e-mail response. 'Koushirou-han...what's wrong with you?'

Koushirou answered Mimi's e-mail, saying that he'd like to join her. She then sent a quick e-mail back saying that she'll give him all the information later. After that, he shut down the computer. His mood was low again. He didn't have much of a desire to continue doing any more mapping or research. Instead, he decided to find a comfortable place on his bed, and do some summer reading. This, of course, caused Tentomon to fall back to sleep. He wanted to party and have fun, not sit around and read.

The main reason Koushirou chose to read, was because he wanted to be alone with his thoughts, and having Tentomon blabbing away about what he, at times, considered nothing too important, wasn't going to help him.

'If I would have told Mimi-san how I really felt, would I be in the place of Yamato-san now?'

That thought haunted him for the rest of the night, until he finally drifted off into a deep slumber, dreaming of what _could_ have been if he hadn't have been so shy and impassive when it came to his feelings for Mimi...

Author's Notes

Note 1: The song _Focus_ is Takeru's Adventure 02 vocal image theme. _Be All Right_ is his Adventure one. Anyway, the song could be interpreted in a couple of ways, I feel. When I first heard it and saw the lyrics, I thought the song was for either Angemon or Yamato because of his wanting to protect someone who had once protected him. Those two are perfect candidates for that role, don't you think? Then again, he did say "we were once protected"...so, he could've been talking about both himself and Hikari and how Patamon/Tailmon used to protect them or even Yamato and Taichi. Now, as for the rest of the song, especially with the lyric, "Kimi no kokoro no fookasu dare ni", which would translate to, "Is the focus of your heart on me?" and the rest of the lyrics, it sounds almost like a love confession to a girl he's known for a while and wants an answer from her, then there's another part of the song that sounds as if he's talking about himself. So yeah, who knows who the song is actually for, but even I've overcome my stubbornness enough to admit that it was probably for Hikari.

Oh yes, and for the record, Hikari's response was pretty much saying, "You are the focus of my heart", or to be more literal, "The focus of my heart is Takeru-kun", but in Japanese, most don't use pronouns and just use the person's name if specific.

My original interpretation was that maybe it was to a girl he'd known before moving to Odaiba, which is why, for the most part, I always ruled out Hikari, but, in canon, aside from Mimi and Sora for characters we do know of, she's the only one he knew before moving to Odaiba or knew of at least.  
x x x x  
Note 2: The main part of the song that really made me think of Koushirou and Mimi was the following below:

**Ikite ikanakya ikenai namida no hi demo (I've got to keep living, even on tearful days)**

**Dakedo tsuyoku narenai naranakya ikenai (But I can't be strong, I've got to become strong)**

**Yousha naku toki wa kizamitsuzukeru (Time keeps mercilessly chipping away)**

**Hashiru kokoro osae arukitsuzukeru (I restrain my running heart and keep walking)**

The reason why I feel that the lyrics above could fit this chapter, is because of how everything turned out when it came to Koushirou and Mimi, don't you think? I really did want something angsty and that really came to mind, although, in all honesty, seems that lyric fits Mimi more so than Koushirou, but that's just my interpretation of it.  
x x x x  
Note 3: I only decided to reference this because of the Adventure 02 episode where the newer Chosen Children spent part of their summer break in the Digital World to take down the Digimon Kaiser. Taichi, Yamato, and Koushirou had to ride up to the camp grounds, but before they could take off, Jun showed up and Yamato had to think of a way to get rid of her. I don't know what was said for the dub during that scene, but Taichi and Koushirou were joking and laughing over how popular Yamato was when it came to girls.  
x x x x  
Note 4: This is more of a...I don't know what you'd call it. lol Anyway, towards the end, Koushirou is going on about how he actually "lost" to Yamato, but he _technically_ didn't, and one reader understood that very well. Emotionally, Koushirou is at the level that he's supposed to be regarding his relationship with Mimi. He and Mimi (for this story, anyway) has an emotional bond that Yamato just doesn't have with Mimi. As it was described by the reader **Lowrider**,"Yamato seems to have skipped a step or two with Mimi, whereas Izzy is right where he needs to be." Well-spotted and well-said! I was glad that he noticed that, and I hope that you all did too.

Fic Chapter Changes

Before I get into the changes, there was one thing I did want to change when I originally wrote this fic, and it had something to do with Koushirou and Mimi's "display", so to speak. After I wrote this story years ago, originally, I wondered if I should have had Takeru and Hikari see Koushirou and Mimi's kiss, but I decided against it because that would've made this story even longer. Okay, now on to the real changes...

First change is where the festival is. Originally, I just said "the park", which was assumed to be someplace in Odaiba. As you can see, I specified a place this time. Hikarigaoka Park.

I changed where Momoe was. I, originally, wrote that she had taken a trip to Europe, but I changed it to Okinawa instead (as I was planning a trip there for Christmas when revising this, but went to a Ryokan/onsen instead lol). I added in that Taichi and Sora were to be busy with club activities which is why they had to miss the festival, as opposed to studying. Jou was left the same, for the most part. The main change, though, involving all three of them, was that they did attend the viewing party and just left early.

I changed the course of events, somewhat. I had that Koushirou was on his way to meet up with Mimi and the others, which was originally there, but for the festival to be in Hikarigaoka, it'd take some time to get there and most viewing parties are in the afternoons anyway, which is why I had him go home and come back. I wanted to have him going there to meet up with Mimi, but I couldn't see him missing the viewing party. Just seemed more plausible to me to do that.

I replaced the group dream with Do As Infinity and I added in Wada Kouji. He was trying to make a break from the anime/game/sentai music thing at the time. I also changed Glay to Arashi.

I changed the type of concert it was. Originally, I had that the tickets had to be purchased and that the money was going towards orphanages, but in a way, it seemed out of place, so I dropped it.

I actually changed Daisuke, slightly. I had him more curious over Takeru and Hikari's walking off together for the change. Before, he only thought about it maybe once, and then shrugged it off and went off to find some festival games to play. I decided to change that because, come on...it's Daisuke. The same boy who grew worried that the two were going on a date when they mentioned how they weren't going to be able to join them for a Digital World trip for the Odaiba Memorial Day episode.

I dropped out Koushirou's implying that Taichi was a violent person. At the part where Koushirou offered to speak with Yamato, he originally said, "At least Yamato-san doesn't resort to violence, like Taichi-san." That seems kind of snarky, don't you think? It's also a bit out of character, imo. I also don't feel that Taichi would sock a person for speaking on the behalf of another, unless he's in a panicked, manic state, worried over Hikari and refusing to listen to the reasoning of anyone, which was displayed, somewhat, in Digimon Adventure.

I dropped Koushirou's contemplating on whether or not he should go to the beach. I dropped his actually considering not going. I also had Tentomon show more concern over the boy's slight oddities.


	29. 29  Big Brother Skepticism

Hey again everyone. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update this. I've been very busy and I also took a trip to New York and I met **Takeuchi**** Junko**. Not sure if some of you know who she is, but she did voice Gomamon for the Digimon Adventure/Adventure 02 series as well as Takuya in Digimon Frontier. I actually played Gomamon's theme for her when I met her. It was so awesome meeting her! I even managed to mention something that most fans don't know about her…the musicals she did for Hunter x Hunter (as she voiced/played Gon for the series). She was blown away by that. So um, yeah…another reason I didn't update…my external hard-drive. My backup hard drive that I kept this story on wasn't functioning properly and had to get that dealt with, so here we are. New external hard drive and stuff and now able to go back to this fic.

Anywho, this story is almost over. Just one more major event needs to be taken care of and then this story can be wrapped up…almost since this will have the alternate ending. This chapter and the next one was originally one chapter, but I broke it up into chapters 29-1 and 29-2, but...I decided to go back to changing it to a chapter 29 and a chapter 30_._Okay, irrelevant stuff out of the way, as you can see, last chapter, the two showed to like each other very much and shared a kiss, but Mimi still ran off to Yamato. "Why?" you ask? You shall discover the answer in this chapter; why Mimi didn't just give in to her true feelings and go with Koushirou.

This chapter also has another time skip. This chapter takes place in Novemberand features Jou, Miyako, and Koushirou. This chapter will also have a flashback to May and the return of three minor characters. I hope you enjoy it. I knowI did when it came to writing out Jou's character for this chapter and the next one, but I'm going to hold out on uploading the next chapter since it's longer than what the original version was since it has that alternate ending.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 11; Second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 10; First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 15 (Year 09; Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 14 (Year 08; Second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 07; First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 05)

Chapter 29: Big Brother Skepticism...

It had been nearly four months since Koushirou had been on his summer break, and the 15-year-old boy was now waiting anxiously for news about his mother, who had gone into labor. Along with him was Miyako.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Koushirou kept muttering while pacing back and forth in the hospital's waiting room.

"Izumi-senpai, calm down. Your mother will be fine."

"I just can't take all of this pressure!" he nearly shouted.

"_Obviously_," Miyako muttered under her breath.

Growing tired of pacing, he took the vacant seat beside Miyako. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used to this." He looked over at her. "What if she gets hurt or something?"

"She should be fine. I'm sure they'll give her a lot of pain medication if she's hurt."

"But that's not too wise a thing to do," the two heard a voice say.

They looked up to see a tall boy wearing glasses.

"_Jou_-senpai!"

"_Jou_-san!"

"What are you doing here? What do you know about not using pain medications when having a baby?" Miyako crossed her arms and gave him a look. "A boy _would_ say something like that."

The now 17-year-old boy shook his head as he tried to defend himself. "I'm just going by what I've heard about medications and childbirth and why some women don't use it." He sighed. "I was here with my science class as part of an internship, and this week, we're here in the maternity section. Eijiro and the others already left to goof off, probably. I was on my way out when I saw you two sitting here."

"Do you have to see the birth of a baby?" asked Miyako in surprise.

Jou waved his hands around and vigorously shook his head. "No way! Our professor wouldn't put us through the torture and agony of witnessing something like that! It's probably not even allowed anyway!"

"How is _that_ agonizing?" she argued back incredulously.

"It's not, it's not! I just don't think _I_ could handle seeing something like that."

She shook her head and tittered a bit. "All of you boys are the same."

Jou pushed his slipping thin-rimmed glasses back into place. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"You boys can help to make them, but you can't go through with seeing a birth and what the mother goes through!"

"But you're just a child yourself! You shouldn't know about those types of things!"

"I'm 14, and I can assure you that I am _no_ child!" Miyako gave Jou a sly look. She was really enjoying toying with him. "I could have children myself if I wanted to. I _am_ old enough to." She looked over at Koushirou, and coyly grinned. "Izumi-senpai would know that better than anyone."

Jou looked at Miyako and then over at Koushirou. He shook his head. He didn't want to even _imagine_ such a thing. The idea of any of his younger friends in an intimate fashion or situation _highly_ disturbed him. Koushirou was too wrapped up in what was going on with his mother to even listen to what she or Jou were saying.

Miyako laughed at Jou's expression. She was thinking back to something Mimi had mentioned to both her and Sora...of what happened when Koushirou went to the orphanage and the lady there thought that he had fathered a child. Both found the situation amusing and wished that they could have been there to see the look on his face. Mimi had described his reaction as priceless.

"Calm down, I was only joking."

"I should hope so!" Jou sounded more adult than usual. "Children shouldn't be joking about stuff like that."

"Must we go through this again? I am _not_ a child! I m a young, highly-motivated independent woman of the 21st century who could start my own family if I chose to, and furthermore-"

"Gomen, gomen," Jou apologized quickly, wanting to get off the subject. "My fault, you are a '_young_ woman'."

"Bingo!" She winked and flashed him the victory sign. "Now don't you ever forget it."

Koushirou, who had been quiet the entire time, turned his attention to both Miyako and Jou. "Will you two be quiet, please? My mother is in there!"

"Your mother?"

"Mrs. Izumi went into labor while we were working on a new program to present to the Computer Club this Monday. We were in his room when we heard something drop. We went to check out what was wrong and we saw Mrs. Izumi by the sink holding her stomach. She was having contractions the entire time, but she didn't know it until she said that it was time for the baby to come. She felt that it was too soon for her to be having them and didn't think anything until the contraction pains kept happening and growing closer and closer together and I'm sure her water must have broken for her to say that it was time for the baby to come."

"Wow, I hope she does okay."

"For _his_ sake, I hope she does too," she laughed. Miyako pointed towards Koushirou who had gone back to pacing around like a madman.

"You sure are calm about this," noted Jou.

"Maybe because it's natural and normal. You two are more worried about Mrs. Izumi than she is and _she's_ the one having the baby!"

"I hope no complications occur," Koushirou muttered.

"Izumi-senpai, stop worrying. Everything will be fine."

He kept pacing. He was worried and nothing was going to change that. 'What if she suffers the same fate like she did with her first child? What if the child ends up getting sick and dies shortly after?'

Right now, what he wanted some better reassuring. He also wished that Mimi could have been around, but knew that she was currently out with Yamato. He appreciated Miyako's company – even though he couldn't tell that since Mimi and Yamato had gotten together, that she flirted with him non-stop – but he still liked hanging around with Mimi too. He wasn't sure if the strange, love-sick side of him was the one that preferred her company or the normal, logical side of him. Since she had an afternoon date with Yamato, he didn't want to bother her. He respected her wishes, although, he fully felt that her being with Yamato as his girlfriend was a bad idea and forced on her part.

He could tell that Mimi didn't like Yamato the way Yamato seemed to like her, and they had been together for a few months now. He wondered if Mimi was only still dating Yamato to keep other guys from constantly bothering her, but figured that she continued on with Yamato in general to humor him since he _did_show such a strong interest in her and didn't act fan-crazed over her. He figured that she didn't want him to feel bad since he went out of his way to get with her to begin with; something that he, himself, couldn't do.

In some ways, he still cursed himself for not telling Mimi about how he felt about her to this day. He wanted to tell her everything, but he could never bring himself to put himself in such a situation. It was much too unlike him to.

One thing he still didn't understand was why she never gave him a chance, or just initiate something herself. He knew that Mimi was anything but shy. The two did share that kiss, after all, and there was definitely something there for them to do so in the first place. Seemed that something would have come from that, but, unfortunately, it didn't. Koushirou understood romance a bit better, though no expert, but enough to realize that it's more complicated than he realized, but he was also a bit more observant and had been studying Mimi's actions ever since the kissing incident.

The main thing that he noticed was how she still found ways to hang around him when Yamato wasn't involved. He also noticed the way Yamato acted around her, and it was the same exact way that she would act around him at times. As a matter of fact, a few months earlier, when Mimi had invited him to go to the beach with her, it turned out that he was the only one that she'd invited. He figured it was for the whole gang and never did bother to ask if anyone else was going along, especially since she mentioned wanting to hang out in the Digital World. He brought Tentomon along with him because of that. He was surprised when arriving in the Digital World at the specified location to be greeted by only her and Palmon.

Despite their partners being around, he did have a lot of fun that day. During that trip, Mimi seemed to continuously make clear that she still wanted to remain good friends and was upset that they hadn't been spending as much time together as much as she would have preferred. This still confused the boy, though, and didn't understand why she didn't just tell Yamato that she just wasn't interested in him romantically and _maybe_ try to start something up with him, even if he did feel a bit selfish for having those thoughts.

Koushirou didn't want to think of Mimi feeling that she was too good for a person like him due to his not being as popular or as well-known as Yamato, as it didn't suit her, as he knew she wasn't that shallow. The reason for that was quite simple, though. She obviously valued her friendships more than her own happiness, which, in a way, showed just how suited she was with the crest trait of purity due to how pure and selfless she was being. Mimi liked Koushirou a _lot_...more than she ever wanted to admit to herself, but pursuing something with Koushirou, she felt, might cause a rift with another person, jeopardizing her friendship with that particular person who was _very_ important to her...Miyako.

Miyako was Mimi's reason for not being honest with her feelings and not allowing her friendship with Koushirou to go a step further. Mimi knew that Miyako had strong feelings for Koushirou, and also realized how Miyako had had those feelings much longer than she had. She also saw Miyako like a sister, and didn't want to ruin that sisterly bond over a boy, even if she _was_ crazy about said boy. She knew how sensitive the girl was when it came to boys, and how she felt when it came to being "ignored" by the boys, even though she's never come out and said it. Mimi felt that she would end up hurting Miyako if she had allowed something to happen between her and Koushirou, especially since she'd seemed to have had a thing for him for at least the past couple of years, despite her act with Ken.

To this current day, she hated the fact that nothing happened between her and Koushirou, but she just sighed and always convinced herself that it was for the best. After the kiss they shared, that she still dreamed of experiencing again, she wasn't sure if the redhead felt the same way back or not. He seemed to act normally as usual when they saw one another again in school that following week and times after that, even if both did act awkwardly around one another, only to hide it without the other one realizing it.

She wasn't very happy with Yamato at all since her plan to date him to get over Koushirou obviously wasn't working and felt a bit bad for Yamato since her heart longed for someone else. Her feelings had actually grown for Koushirou since she'd started up with Yamato. She liked him, found him to be a really sweet, kind, considerate guy, and even handsome (she couldn't deny that), but still couldn't see anything beyond friendship with him. She wanted to break up with him, but felt bad if she actually did and couldn't think of a reason to give him without coming across as hurtful. No matter how many hints she threw at him, Yamato just didn't catch them, which pained her even more, as she _just_ didn't have the heart to drop him since he _was_ a friend too. He was so infatuated with her, he couldn't tell that she wasn't fully happy in the relationship that they had.

The two had even shared kisses, but for her, they had no meaning, not like the _one_ she shared with Koushirou. What kept her going, despite hating herself for it, was to imagine herself kissing Koushirou again.

Just like the months before, the redhead still thought about the kiss they shared, his first _real_ kiss, and how he and Mimi had broken up, even if they were never together. He still pondered and wondered why Mimi wasn't honest with her feelings, but as usual, always quickly came to a dead end, and there was no way he was going to _ask_ her about it. As a matter of fact, neither _ever_ got on the subject of the kiss. It was like they had an unspoken agreement never to reference it.

Koushirou stopped pacing abruptly and stopped thinking about Mimi, as he noticed a man walking towards him wearing what looked to be a white lab coat. It was the doctor who had taken his mother in to prepare for the delivery.

"How is my mother? Is she okay? Has the baby been born yet? Did she have a boy or a girl? Can she talk to me?" He grabbed the collar of the doctor and ordered in an almost deranged manner, "_Tell_ me! I can't take the waiting anymore!" He started to shake the poor man. "Tell the baby to hurry up if it isn't here yet! Hurry up! Don't just stand there! Tell me what's going on! Do your damn job!"

"Please calm down Mr. Izumi," the doctor said between shakes, his eyes swirling. "You're giving me a headache."

Jou and Miyako rushed over and grabbed each of Koushirou's arms so that he could release his unusually tight grip on the doctor.

"I'm sorry about him, doctor," Miyako apologized with a nervous chuckle. "This is his first child."

The doctor brushed himself off, and smiled, much to Jou and Miyako's surprise. "I can understand that. He _is_ getting a new brother or sister after all, and since his mother have no other children, he doesn't know what it's like to go through this."

His arms crossed, Jou whispered to Miyako, "I wonder how he would react if he was married and his wife was about to give birth."

"I don't think I would _want_ to know." She smirked. "I would tell the doctors to keep him away until after I have the baby, or knock him out."

Jou laughed. "Yeah, she probably would do something like that." He then realized what Miyako had said. "Wait, _what_!"

"I'm just kidding, senpai."

The older boy wasn't sure if Miyako was joking around or not. Koushirou and Miyako had been hanging out together more frequently, especially since Mimi had started dating Yamato – which surprised him a lot – but as far as he knew, there was nothing going on between them of that nature, not that he could imagine it anyway, and frankly didn't fully care to.

"Well, I just came to update you on your mother's condition. She's doing fine, but she still hasn't had the baby yet."

"Just let me know of this one thing..." he started direly, looking at the floor.

"What is it, Mr. Izumi?"

He lifted his head, his expression serious. "Will she die? Will the baby die?"

"_Kou_shirou!" exclaimed Jou. "Calm down! The doctor knows what he's doing! Why are you assuming the worst?"

He looked over at Jou, and darkly muttered, "I have my reasons." He turned his attention back to the doctor. "Well?"

Still a bit taken aback by the boy's odd question, the doctor cleared his throat, and told him, "We aren't having any complications if that's what you mean, and I don't expect any to occur. Your mother is in good health and all her signs and vitals are stable, even her heart rate. The only thing she needs now is her husband's support."

"I tried calling my father _three_ times, but I still haven't been able to reach him! He must be in some kind of a meeting and his phone must be off, which would explain why I can't seem to reach him. What do I do? He should be here!"

"I'm sure that he'll be here when he can. Lucky for you, though, that your mother has a friend with her."

"A friend?" asked Jou.

"Nagataki-sensei," answered Miyako simply.

"Oh, I remember her...from Odaiba Elementary. So Nagataki-sensei is here too..."

Ever since Ms. Nagataki and Mrs. Izumi formally met months ago, the two became instant friends. They came across as long lost friends. Mrs. Izumi liked the fact that she had another person to associate with aside from her gossipy neighbors in the building.

When Mrs. Izumi got those bad pains, Koushirou, out of panic, called her. He didn't even know why he phoned her of all people and didn't know what to do for his mother, even though Miyako was giving him advice that was correct, but he was still too panicked to even consider anything she had to say. Miyako wasn't too offended by this, even if she did tell him the same exact things that Ms. Nagataki had.

He managed to get her on her mobile. She was doing some planning for her classes that upcoming Monday. When she found out, she excused herself and instructed Koushirou to get his mother to the hospital as fast as possible and that she would meet them there as soon as she could. She also gave him some other suggestions to help her.

Koushirou was grateful that Ms. Nagataki had gotten there as soon as she had and was glad that Odaiba Elementary School was so close to the hospital. She managed to get there before Mrs. Izumi, Miyako, and Koushirou had arrived.

"I have to get going now and keep an eye on your mother. I'll let you know if we have any changes, and when your father does arrive, please inform the head nurse over at the nurse's station so that she can contact the nurse responsible for Mrs. Izumi, who will let him come to the back to see her."

Koushirou nodded as the doctor left the three teens.

"See," smiled Miyako, "nothing to worry about. Your mother is healthy. The contractions are growing closer and closer together which means the labor time is winding down and that means that the baby will be born soon."

"You sure do know a lot."

Once again, the girl gave Jou a playful smile. "You almost sound surprised. I _am_ a girl after all, and we're taught about the facts of life. What are you boys taught?"

"Never _mind_ that! You're not supposed to know about it!"

The younger girl's eye twinkled and her playful smirk became more of a sneaky grin. She gave off all the information she knew regarding the subject. Koushirou, once again, had managed to tune both out, as his mind was back on his mother. Miyako was so detailed with her descriptions, that it caused Jou to turn red in the face. If Koushirou had been paying attention, Jou knew that he would've been as weirded out as _he_ currently was.

Jou backed up slightly and pointed shakily at the girl. "You know more than _I_do! You-you're not supposed to-to know about all of that!"

She responded with a laugh and looked back over at Koushirou. She decided to stop teasing Jou for a while. "She'll probably have the baby really soon."

"But _why_ is it taking so long? We've been here for over an hour! Why can't the baby just come out?"

"Because it doesn't work that way! Besides, normally with a woman's first-born child, it takes the longest to deliver I heard..."

Koushirou shot her a slightly annoyed look, which caused Miyako to smack her head in stupidity. She remembered how this wasn't going to be Mrs. Izumi's firstborn child. "I-I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Miyako-kun." He sighed. "I tend to forget that myself sometimes."

"Forget what?"

"About how Mrs. Izumi has had a child before."

"Oh yeah, that's right..."

Everyone pretty much knew that Koushirou was adopted and how Mrs. Izumi had had a child before she and her husband had adopted him. He mentioned it to both Taichi and Mimi, who passed the word around to the others, but aside from the other Chosen Children, no one else knew. Mimi now understood why Mr. and Mrs. Izumi fostered children so much, to make up for the one they had lost.

"Oh, I wish she would hurry up and have the child and I wish my father would hurry up and get here! I left him a lot of messages! He had to have received at least _one_ of them!"

"Maybe you should try calling him again."

Realizing that Jou's suggestion of phoning wouldn't hurt, he left the waiting room to go to a designated calling area, as using phones in that part of the hospital was prohibited. He pulled out his mobile to call his father again. He didn't have anything to lose by doing so. This time, instead of trying his father's phone, he dialed his father's work number, and ended up getting the receptionist of the company. She explained to Koushirou that he had left for the day and how he had left right after his meeting to tend to some personal business almost an entire half hour before he had phoned.

"Thank you." Koushirou closed up his phone and walked back to the waiting room, where he saw Jou and Miyako sitting, debating over which science was more difficult between Chemistry and Biology. Miyako felt that Biology was a more difficult science while Jou argued Chemistry was because of all of the math involved with it, even though he enjoyed math. Miyako felt that Biology was more of a challenge because of all of the technical terms used for it.

The two saw Koushirou standing there. "Izumi-senpai, you're back."

"So, is he on his way?"

He shook his head. "He's not there. I called his office this time. The receptionist said that he left a long time ago." Koushirou's face twisted up in anger and he started to breathe hard. "How could he leave like that! What personal business does he have that couldn't be taken care of another day?"

Jou and Miyako rushed to his side, trying to calm him down, but he kept arguing and complaining. Some people in the hospital would walk by, wondering what was wrong with the boy. Since neither could get him to calm down, they both agreed to just let him rant and get it out of his system and was glad that he wasn't being loud. He was ranting so much, that he didn't even notice a man walk up behind him.

"Koushirou!"

Hearing his name being called by someone other than Jou or Miyako, he turned to see a middle-aged man wearing glasses standing before him trying to catch his breath. He looked as if he'd been running. "Otousan! Y-you're here!"

"Of _course_ I'm here! I got your message and rushed to get here as soon as I could! I was stuck in a business meeting, so I had my phone off. I'm sorry for not calling you or anything, but it slipped my mind to!"

'It must run in the family to panic,' Miyako thought with a laugh.

"It was murder trying to get here. I may give in and buy another car, but never mind that! How is your mother? Is she okay? Did she have the baby yet?" Koushirou shook his head and informed him of all that had gone on. The man turned to Miyako. "Thank goodness you were with my son and helped out my wife."

"It's no problem, Mr. Izumi. Without me, I'm sure Izumi-senpai would've gone crazy."

"Thank you very much, now where do I go?"

The redhead pointed towards the nurse's station where a woman sat, and told him to speak with her. He thanked them again, and rushed off.

"Hm, so that's why you couldn't reach him earlier. When you tried earlier, he was in a business meeting, and the other time you called, he was on his way here," Jou concluded.

"What do we do now? I don't know all that much about children or how to take care of them or what to even _do_ with them! What if I do something wrong? What if I offend him or her?"

"You've done a good job with that adopted girl whose family was killed in that fire," Jou pointed out while fiddling with his phone.

"Yeah, to her, you're like an older brother, _and_ you spend time with her on occasion just playing with her. That's good practice right there."

"Maybe I _am_ learning more, but I still don't feel that I'm ready to be given that responsibility regularly."

"Izumi-senpai, stop worrying about that. Kimiko-chan loves you very much and sees you as a brother, so I'm sure that your new brother or sister will too."

"Miyako-kun is right. Kimiko-chan really appreciates and respects you. If it hadn't been for you, she would have never found a new home."

When Koushirou first visited the Nerima Adoption Agency and Orphanage in Hikarigaoka back in March, he met a four-year-old girl by the name of Shimizu Kimiko. Her family ran a restaurant; they lived in the apartment above it. A fire broke out, and had killed her entire family. The girl started talking with Koushirou and instantly labeled him as her new brother and wanted to go home with him. When the girl looked as if she were about to cry when Koushirou told her he couldn't be her new brother, he panicked and promised her that he would try to visit every week until she was placed with a real family, and he made sure to keep that promise, despite how difficult it was to keep it, especially after becoming a third year, which meant more testing for him.

Every Sunday he would visit the young girl, but the more and more he would visit, the more down she would become since she had no immediate family that could take her in, nor would any non relative for that matter. As the weeks went by, some of her friends would get adopted and go to new homes, which made her feel alone. Every time she would make a new friend, the friend would get "taken away" as she put it and would never see the friend again. She seemed to put on a front a lot, though, and would always tell Koushirou, with a smile, "Papa would always tell me that good things will happen if you hope for them. Oniichan used to believe in that too. I'm happy because Koushirou-niichan comes back every week."

Koushirou started to feel sorry for her and wished that there was something he could do for her. He knew that taking her home with him was out of the question. He wasn't ready for children, let alone marriage, and he was way too young to be worrying about that in general. He then remembered "Sui-obasan" who had always said time and time again how she wished to have a child of her own and how she was never "blessed with the ability" to do so. She never got into detail and Koushirou never pried whenever she did randomly mention that, but he figured that she couldn't physically have children in some way.

He determined that she would like Kimiko, and how Kimiko would probably like her, especially since both could really use a family. He told Ms. Nagataki about the girl and she agreed to it. Just from Koushirou's description of the girl, she fell in love with her. "She reminds me of Miki-chan when we were kids," she told him. "She was always optimistic too, despite the situation." She actually started accompanying Koushirou on his trips to Hikarigaoka and visited Kimiko. After the first meeting, Ms. Nagataki was ready to take her home, but that time didn't come until that beautiful, late May afternoon where Kimiko received the surprise of a lifetime...

* * *

"_Well, I have to get going," Koushirou told the girl, standing up from his seat in the visitor's room of the orphanage. She had been having a pretend picnic with the boy. "I would stay longer, but I have tests to take tomorrow, and really need to get in some more study time."_

"_Okay, Koushirou-niichan," she sighed sadly, for once, forgetting to put on her smile._

"_You shouldn't be so sad. You'll see me again."_

"_But I have to wait a long time before I can see Koushirou-niichan again."_

"_Not too long. You'll probably see me again tomorrow."_

_The girl clapped her hands excitedly. "Really?"_

_He nodded, "Absolutely."_

"_Wow!" She got up and hugged the boy. "I can't wait to see you again!"_

_After letting him go, he started to walk towards the door of the room. He then turned back to Kimiko and gave her a coy smile. "Aren't you coming back to Odaiba with me?"_

_She looked at him in pure confusion. "Huh?"_

"_Aren't you coming with me?"_

"_Wh-what?"_

_He closed his eyes and tsked the girl while shaking his head, his arms crossed. "I thought you would have caught on by now. You're coming back to Odaiba with me. The only way you can see me tomorrow is if you're near me."_

_She stood there for a moment, when what Koushirou had said had finally sunk into her head. She jumped up and down and shouted, "Yay!" over and over again. Koushirou smiled down at her. He was glad that she was genuinely happy, and how she wouldn't have to put on a front for him anymore. He hated leaving her every week in that state._

"_Surprise, Kimiko-chan," Mrs. Mitsuishi told the girl as she entered the room._

"_Karen-mama, did you hear that? Koushirou-niichan said that I could go home with him!"_

_She nodded and smiled. She was glad that Koushirou had gone through the trouble of finding a home for Kimiko. She felt sorry for her and was even more upset at some of the girl's family, as it turned out she did have some more family around in the area and in other parts of Japan, mostly up north, but none were willing to take the child in since the family had always disapproved of the girl's father. Compared to Koushirou, she had lots of family. She referred to those relatives as "ungrateful ingrates". The only person who had actually shown an interest in taking the girl in was the neighbor who would walk her home from the girl's Kindergarten with her own son, but she couldn't afford to take the girl in, no matter how much she wanted to._

"_Now you can see Koushirou-kun almost as much as you'd like, but you aren't going to stay with his family."_

"_But..."_

"_I would let you stay with me and my mother and father, but I can't."_

"_But how will I be able to see you?"_

"_Do you remember the other person who usually visits you with me?" She nodded. "What do you think of her?"_

"_I hate it that she doesn't visit every week like you do. I've only seen her," she started counting on her fingers, "four times. I like her a lot! She's very fun and she has nice hugs."_

"_I'm really glad that you like Sui-obasan."_

_Right at that moment, Ms. Nagataki walked into the visitor's room. It was all a part of the surprise that Koushirou had managed to get together. He spoke with both Sui and Mrs. Mitsuishi and explained how he felt that surprising Kimiko in that way would work best. His plan was to distract Kimiko while Sui finished up with all of the final paper work. Seeing the woman, Kimiko rushed to her and gave her a big hug._

"_I'm so happy to see you again!"_

"_So am I." She picked her up and hugged her tightly. "I missed you a lot. I'm sorry I couldn't visit the last time."_

_Mrs. Mitsuishi stared at the two, and was thinking pretty much what Koushirou had been. The two were getting along like a real family._

"_So, are you ready to come home with Chibi Koushi and me?"_

_She nodded eagerly, chanting how happy she was to be going home with Koushirou and Sui. Sui put her down. "When do I leave?"_

"_Whenever you are ready to," Mrs. Mitsuishi told her._

"_I want to go now. I have to get all of my stuff."_

"_No you don't. We already did that for you," the woman explained. "While you were visiting with Koushirou-kun, I packed everything for you. I knew you were leaving today. I'll go get your bag." She rushed off to get Kimiko's things._

"_How do you like your surprise?" Koushirou asked the younger girl._

"_I love it! I'm finally going to get a new home to live in!"_

"_I'm glad that you are too," he nodded. 'I'm glad that she has a home now and I'm glad that Sui-obasan will have someone living with her now. Neither one of them will ever be alone again. Sui-obasan wants to have children, but obviously can't, and she is also divorced. Kimiko has family that doesn't want to take the time or effort to take her in for selfish reasons. I'm sure these two will get along very well.'_

_A short while later, Mrs. Mitsuishi returned holding the few things Kimiko owned, which wasn't much. One child-sized suitcase of clothing and a small bag of toys that were salvaged from the fire. "Here you go, Kimiko-chan." Koushirou took the suitcase and bag for her. "Nagataki-san, all of the paperwork has gone through, so she is now legally yours."_

"_I'm very glad of that. It took so long for all of that paperwork to go through."_

"_Yes, I know what you mean," the older woman sympathized, "but those are the rules. The adoption process takes a good while in special cases." By that, the woman was referring to Ms. Nagataki being single. Ideally, it was favored to have two guardians. Ms. Nagataki had to prove that she was capable enough of taking Kimiko in despite this. She knew it was going to be difficult, given her job, but Koushirou had offered to help out as well, like picking Kimiko up from her Kindergarten whenever it was necessary. "Since everything is signed and done, Kimiko-chan, you can leave right now if you'd like." _

_The girl nodded, a smile on her face, but that smile soon faded. "What's the matter," asked Ms. Nagataki._

_She started to cry and threw herself at Mrs. Mitsuishi. "I'm going to miss Karen-mama!"_

_During the girl's time there, she and Mrs. Mitsuishi had grown somewhat close and had an actual bond, maybe like an aunt and a niece. It just couldn't be broken. The reason for this was due to the fact that she felt incredibly sorry for the child's situation, even though she was that way when it came to all of the children there, but not as much as this particular child. She was going to miss her as well. She was going to miss Kimiko's bright, hopeful smile and her lighthearted personality. She did see the girl as one of her own children, and would have taken her in herself if she didn't have four of her own already. It wouldn't have worked out financially for her and her family, especially given their ages. They were all in their mid teens to early 20s, which meant high school and university fees to consider. _

_She knelt down and wiped some of the younger girl's tears away. "Don't cry, Kimiko-chan, I can always visit you. I know your new address and where you'll be living. I will be personally checking up on you and Nagataki-san since your case is my personal responsibility. I'll visit you as much as I can if that'll make you happy."_

_She stopped sniffling and hugged the older woman again. "Okay Karen-mama! I'm going to miss you a lot, but I love you just like Sui-obachan and Koushirou-niichan. I have two mamas and another brother now too."_

"_That's a good girl now," Mrs. Mitsuishi nearly cried herself._

_After the hug, she turned towards Koushirou and Mrs. Nagataki, and shyly smiled. "I'm ready to go..."_

_Mrs. Nagataki smiled and grabbed her hand, as the three left the building to head back to Odaiba..._

* * *

"You know, Isako-chan likes you a lot too," Miyako pointed out. "She seems to think of you as an older brother." She smiled knowingly to her older friend. "Let's face it; you get along with children better than you give yourself credit for. You get along with two children under the age of eight. I'm sure that you'll get along with your new brother or sister fine."

"Maybe it was meant for Koushirou to have to deal with younger children since he was going to end up having a younger sibling. It's like a premonition!"

"Senpai, are you really into stuff like that?"

"I never really thought about it, but I do have the mentality that everything happens for a reason. We may not understand it or know what that reason may be behind it, but there is definitely one. Apparently, Koushirou having to be around Kimiko-chan and Isako-chan was foreshadowing his having to learn how to get along with younger children better."

Koushirou thought over Jou's words and could only shrug, as he started to pace around again, still worrying over his obviously healthy mother. Jou and Miyako remained seated as they watched him continue his pacing. Jou grew bored of the playing games on his phone and put it away. Miyako kept her eye on the entrance of the waiting area, as if looking for someone.

More moments passed. Koushirou seemed to have been wearing a groove into the floor.

"Koushirou, stop pacing around so much! You're starting to drive _me_ crazy! Your mother will be fine! You heard the doctor!"

Right at that moment, a person walked up behind Koushirou, and said with a giggle, "Yeah, you really should listen to him. He knows what he's talking about."

"Mimi-oneesama!"

"Mimi-kun?"

"Mimi-san?"

"Hey everyone," she smiled.

Fic Chapter Changes

Originally, I had that Mimi had only invited Koushirou and how, with Tentomon, it was only the three of them. I added in Palmon. I also gave a reason for the invite, unlike I did for the original.

I cut out a short author-insert type note after Miyako and Jou had to get Koushirou from off of the doctor. RP noted how it took two people to pull him away and how strong Koushirou was when hysterical. Tentomon then explained why that was, and how it's the fault, pretty much, of the all of her fics that had Koushirou in it, which has made him crazy. RP then "bows" as she was "happy to be of service" which prompted Koushirou and Tentomon to have kind of a, "Why us" reaction. The fic that was being referenced, in a way, was my short Halloween comedy fic, NightoftheLivingPiemon! where Koushirou really _was_ nuts for it, but that fic was purposely written that way and every single character, for the most part, was out of character, especially Kari. The bottom line was that the fic was completely stupid, but was extremely fun to write! Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that because of some of Kari's antics, Izzy ended up in a mental hospital and tried to attack his physical therapist? lol That fic was originally written in script format, and I would put that fic back up here, like it was originally, but it just wouldn't work unless it's in script format since it's so stupid. lol

I changed how Jou addressed both Kimiko and Isako. Originally, he called them "Kimiko-kun" and "Isako-kun". Given their ages, using the "chan" honorific seemed more appropriate. He did use it with Hikari, after all, when she was a kid.

I changed Kimiko's being depressed. I kept it in, but just toned it down a bit more and had that she was more of an optimist, despite her age.


	30. 30 A Brand New Addition

Hey again everyone and I am very sorry for uploading this now. I know I haven't updated since November 13. Work has kept me incredibly busy and a computer virus kept me from even working on this. I apologize for that. Oh yeah, I am definitely planning on working on this fic's sequel…which sorta won't be a sequel…but you'll see. I'll reference stuff from this fic, but it won't have that much of a bearing. You'll see, if you all decide to read it.

Anywho, this is the final chapter…well, it was originally. Anyway, there isn't much I can say about it, aside from the fact that we will get maybe one or two more time skips. No more flashbacks to the extent of the whole adoption thing with Kimiko, though. Originally, after this chapter, I did this goofy little recap type thing featuring the Digimon, but I don't think I'll upload that since it consisted of questions and comments left by the readers being answered and back then, there was no private messaging to answer the reviews like there is now. Anywho, the ending of this chapter will be slightly different and maybe a little suggestive, and the new stuff will occur at the end of this chapter and in the next couple of chapters. I hope you enjoy them as I had fun writing them. I'm going to try my best to get the next couple of chapters up at least, as both deal with Christmas.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 11; Second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 10; First year of high school)

Koushirou/Mimi: 15 (Year 09; Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 14 (Year 08; Second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 07; First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 05)

Chapter 30: A Brand New Addition!

More moments passed. Koushirou seemed to have been wearing a groove into the floor.

"Koushirou, stop pacing around so much! You're starting to drive _me_ crazy! Your mother will be fine! You heard the doctor!"

Right at that moment, a person walked up behind Koushirou, and said with a giggle, "Yeah, you really should listen to him. He knows what he's talking about."

"Mimi-oneesama!"

"Mimi-kun?"

"Mimi-san?"

"Hey everyone," she smiled.

Miyako jumped from her seat to greet the older girl. Jou walked over with her. "Mimi-sama! I'm so glad that you're finally here!"

"So am I. I wouldn't miss out on this big moment." That was part of it. She just wanted to personally witness another panicky Koushirou moment, like how he was back at the orphanage.

"How did you know that Koushirou was here?"

"Miyako-chan called me."

"While Izumi-senpai was talking with Nagataki-sensei, I called her from my phone and sent Sora-san an e-mail. Sora-san sent a message back, and told me to wish him and Mrs. Izumi good luck, but I don't think he even heard me when I told him," she laughed.

"I would have gotten here sooner, but you know how Yamato-san is," she forcibly laughed. "He sometimes acts as if I'm going to move away whenever we have to part." She sighed, and got off that subject quickly, as she caught herself staring at Koushirou. She turned her attention to Jou. "S-so, how is she doing?"

"The doctor pretty much said that she was in good shape and very healthy and doesn't expect anything to go wrong."

"That's good." She glanced back over at Koushirou, who had stopped pacing. He didn't say a word though and kept quiet. "Hello, Koushirou."

"Hey," he answered back uneasily, avoiding her gaze at all costs. He hadn't prepared himself for this encounter.

Jou looked from Koushirou to Mimi, and noted the peculiar way they were acting around one another and felt that the two should be left alone, even though he didn't fully understand why he had such a feeling, but the awkwardness between the two was overwhelming to him. "Miyako-kun, let's go down to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat, my treat."

"Okay." She turned to the other two. "Would you two like anything, like a drink, maybe?"

They shook their heads.

"Come on," Jou told her briskly, as he started off. Miyako walked to catch up with him.

After the two were long gone, Mimi asked, "So, how's it going?"

"Okay I guess. I'm just hoping for the best and that my mother does okay."

"I'm sure she'll be okay. According to Jou-senpai, she's very healthy," she reminded him. "So, other than your Computer Club keeping you busy, what else have you been up to? Lately, you haven't been hanging around me or the others as much. You can't be _that_ busy since most third years are finished with their club activities."

He walked to the window of the waiting room, staring down at the many people walking by. "Well, the Computer Club has been keeping me busy lately since I'm still actively participating in it," he said with a half-smile. "I have a lot of extra responsibilities now since I'm in my last year. I also took a page out of a certain math and science whiz's book," he laughed. "I've been taking practice exams to help prepare me for our high school entrance exams in a few months, like how Jou-san does."

"I guess that's good. I've been studying too. All of the kanji we have to learn for it is driving me crazy, especially the characters we don't even use much anymore. Well, at least the English section will be easy for me."

"Yeah, you always score high on your English tests, and you got even more practice a while back since you were chosen to represent the second years of our school for the English Speech Contest in Tokyo. It was a really nice topic, too. Friendship. Too bad you didn't win."

"Well, second place wasn't too bad. Either way, studying for the exams is more important and I have to worry about that more. Sora-san has been helping me prepare for my upcoming exam, you know, when she's not busy spending time with Taichi-san or with her Tennis Club. Have you decided on which school you're going to try and take the exam for?"

"I did have a few schools in mind, all known for their hi-tech equipment and computer oriented classes." He looked back towards her, surprised at himself for never having had this conversation with her before. "How about you?"

She walked up beside him, and stared out the window, just as Koushirou had returned to doing. The late afternoon was starting to enter the early evening. "I'm going to stick with Odaiba High School. The school is a good one." Her voice grew quiet. "I was hoping that we'd be able to go to high school together."

"Who knows where I'll actually end up. There's no guarantee that I'll end up in either one of those other schools, which has a lot of competition, sort of like the academy Jou-san attends. Odaiba High School was the other school on my list by default. It _is_ the closest and it is right here. If I went to one of the other schools in mind, I might have to end up moving."

"You mean like Jou-senpai? Would you have to get an apartment to live in by yourself?"

"Yeah, but I was thinking about doing that anyway."

"I think it'd be sad if you moved away. Everyone would miss you."

"Maybe so, but at times I feel that I should. This has been a plan of mine for a while. I wanted to move when I started out my first year of high school. My parents have already made the offer to help, but either way, private school or no private school, I probably will be moving out this upcoming spring. At least there'll be more room for the new baby if I move."

"But _why_ are you going to move? Why is it so necessary?"

He faced her and bluntly asked, "Why did you come back to Odaiba?"

"What does _that_ have to do with why _you're_ planning on moving out?" she asked stubbornly.

"Quite a bit. Now, why did you come back to Odaiba other than your friends being here?"

"I wanted to gain a sense of independence and to show my parents that I can be responsible if I wasn't around them all the time. I wanted to grow up and show them that I had. I wanted to prove to them that I wasn't just some little kid and that I don't need them to baby me all the time, even though I appreciate them."

"There, you have your answer. I want to do the same thing; the only difference is that I can't leave the country to do it."

"I understand," she sighed in defeat with a frown. 'Does this mean that we won't be able to walk to school together anymore?'

"Don't be upset, Mimi-san," the boy slightly panicked. "I've been planning this for a long time...shortly after I started Odaiba Junior High. I felt that the sooner I go out and be on my own the better." He chuckled lightly. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but my mother does baby me a lot. I sometimes think that they don't want me to grow up."

Mimi laughed, realizing that this was true. "So, do you have any idea where you'll be moving?"

"It all depends on the school. The other schools actually have student housing. Either way, I'm sure I can pass the entrance exam for any school that I may try for!"

She gave him a big smile. She loved how much confidence the boy had in himself. "I just wish Odaiba High School was it. It'll be strange going to school and you not being there since I've gotten so used to being around you."

"Yeah, and your not being around would be a bit strange for me too," he admitted, "but you can always visit me wherever I do end up. You all can visit."

"I guess so..." she murmured.

He turned away from Mimi, and went back to staring out of the window.

"Hey, on Monday, why don't we have lunch together? We can even set up a study date for our entrance exams. You could help me study so that I won't always have to bother Sora-san or Yamato-san."

Koushirou returned his attention to Mimi and stuffed his hands into his pockets. He grew a bit flustered, but didn't understand as to why he would have been. 'Why get so nervous around her?' He shook off his thoughts and answered her. "I wouldn't want to disturb you or your friends."

"Don't you worry about that. My friends are always welcome to join me, especially good ones."

He smiled despite himself, and shook off one of his urges. He really wanted to gently embrace her close to him and kiss her. He mentally punched himself for that thought, though. He knew that he wasn't allowed to have those types of thoughts. Oddly enough, Mimi's thoughts were similar, but she managed to keep herself under control.

"S-so I'm glad you decided to come by."

"So am I."

"I apologize for ruining your outing with Yamato-san. You really didn't have to come."

"You didn't ruin it! He had other things to do anyway. He forgot that he had practice today. That's his loss, and he did want me to tell you 'good luck' with your mother and talking about how worried he was when his mother was about to give birth to Takeru-kun since he didn't really understand everything that was going on."

"Oh...okay..."

"Don't you _ever_ think that you are a nuisance or a bother to me because you aren't and never _will_ be!"

He nodded and started staring at Mimi in the same way he had back at the festival. Mimi was doing the same thing. The two were inching nearer and nearer to one another, instincts taking over, growing closer and closer to embracing one another, until the two were unexpectedly interrupted.

"Mr. Izumi," a person called. "Is there a Mr. Izumi here?"

"Huh? What? What? What? I wasn't about to do anything Yamato-san!" he nearly shouted out, his eyes wide. He then bowed deeply to the girl he was about to kiss, apologizing profusely. He blushed furiously as he continued apologizing. Since being snapped back into reality, he realized what was about to happen between the two of them. Mimi didn't say anything. Even though Koushirou didn't see it, due to his apologizing fit, the girl looked a bit disappointed that they had been interrupted. The two heard someone call for a "Mr. Izumi" once more.

"I'M MR. IZUMI! I'M RIGHT HERE!" he nearly choked.

A nurse walked up to the teen. "I'm glad that I found you, but my name isn't Yamato."

"R-right...hehehe..."

"Anyway, I'm here to inform you that your mother gave birth almost an hour ago, so you can go in and see her now."

"_Really_!" The short-haired woman nodded. "That's wonderful! What did she have?" He shook his head. "Never mind what she had! Is she healthy? Is she okay?"

"Calm down," Mimi laughed, "let the nurse talk."

"The delivery was a great success and she had a healthy baby-"

"That's great! Please lead the way!" Koushirou interrupted.

The nurse wanted to laugh, but kept her composure as Miyako and Jou ran back up. Miyako was complaining over the choice of foods the hospital's cafeteria had and Jou was trying his best to calm her down, wondering what he'd actually gotten himself into.

"The food here looks awful!"

'That's because she's not a patient and turned down the soba and ramen dishes,' thought Jou tiredly.

"All I had was a drink from the vending machine!"

"Miyako-kun, _please_ calm down," the older boy groaned.

"Well it's true!" she whined, her arms folded.

"How about I treat you to a _real_ meal after leaving here to make up for the one you didn't have?"

"Where will you take me?"

"Anyplace you'd like."

"No fast-food places and no cheap ramen, soba, or udon places!"

The boy sighed, realizing that he probably made a big mistake. He figured that Miyako was definitely going to take advantage of this situation. "Okay," he finally agreed, "no fast-food places and no noodle shops."

"It's a deal!"

'Finally! I thought I was never going to get her to calm down.'

"Hey, where are Izumi-senpai and Mimi-oneesama going?"

Curious, both rushed up to Mimi and Koushirou. "Great, you two are back! Mrs. Izumi has had the baby and we're going to see her now."

"Cool! I can't wait to see it!" clapped Miyako excitedly.

"Come on everyone, let's go see my mother."

The nurse led the four to a room, but all had to put on a robe and wear a mask. After that was done, the group continued to the room, but when they were about to enter it, Ms. Nagataki was walking out of it, wiping tears away from her eyes due the lovely scene. She greeted Koushirou and the others and told them that she had to leave because of Kimiko, and that she would call later to check up on them.

Once they entered the room, they saw Mr. Izumi sitting beside the bed, looking down at his tired wife holding a small child. Seeing the four children and the nurse enter the room, Mrs. Izumi called to them. "Hello everyone!"

"Mother, are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you going to be fed properly? Are you healthy? Is the baby healthy? Did the doctor-"

Miyako put a hand over Koushirou's mouth, muffling out his questions.

"He has been acting like a nervous wreck since you've been in here," Jou apologized. "Please forgive him."

"I don't mind," she laughed weakly.

"May I see the baby?" asked Miyako, rushing over to the woman. "I want to see it!"

"Me too, me too," exclaimed Mimi, who joined her. "I want to hold the baby!"

The two looked down on the sleeping infant, a sparkly look in both their eyes. "So cute!" they both squealed.

"What's the baby's name?" asked Miyako.

"Well, actually, we haven't come up with one yet. Sui-san was just telling us that we should hurry and come up with one," Mr. Izumi said.

Everyone, minus Koushirou, started throwing out name suggestions. Koushirou was a bit nervous over the entire situation, which a perceptive Mrs. Izumi noticed. "Koushirou, dear..."

He jerked his head up in his mother's direction. "Y-yes, mother?"

"Would you like to see your new baby sister?" He nodded nervously and shakily made his way over to his mother. He looked down at the baby, which Miyako was currently holding, but at the same time, looked as if he wanted to keep his distance away from the child. Mrs. Izumi noticed. "You should try holding her. Miyako-chan and Mimi-chan have." Mr. Izumi stood up and let Koushirou take his place. "Go ahead, Koushirou, hold the baby," his mother smiled to him.

"I-I really don't think that's a good idea," the boy protested. "What if I break her or something?" Logically he knew that wasn't possible, but he still felt that he should be the last person to be allowed to hold an infant. Overall, he was more afraid of waking her or causing her to cry.

"Don't be silly," his father told him. "Go ahead."

Miyako gently handed the child over to Koushirou, even though she was wondering if it was a good idea or not, given the boy's current state. He accepted it, his heart pounding, his hands partially shaking, as he tried his best to calm down, which only took a moment once she was in his arms. "W-wow, she's so small."

Mimi helped the boy out by explaining the proper way to hold a baby. She positioned his hands and arms in the correct fashion, her cheeks flushing slightly. The scene was just so cute to her. She also found his mannerisms cute when nervous. "You have to hold her gently, like you're already doing, but you can't hold her too loosely either, or else you'll drop her and I know you don't want to do that. You must also cradle her head, like Miyako-chan was doing, and that's to keep the neck and head protected."

He nodded and did exactly as she had instructed, too preoccupied with making sure he did everything correctly to think anything of the girl positioning his arms and such. From Jou's perspective, he couldn't help but scratch his head over the thought that randomly popped into mind for him. The scene looked almost family-like. Koushirou and Mimi as husband and wife and the newborn as their child. The three of them looked like a cozy, happy family. He shook the thought off fast, though, surprised that it had come to mind at all.

"You're going to be a good brother, Koushirou."

"I'll _try_ to be a good brother," Koushirou told his mother, while keeping his eye on the small girl. He chuckled lightly. "Surprisingly, I've been preparing for this exact moment, and I didn't even realize it."

"Yoshie, we still haven't decided on a name yet."

"Oh yeah, that's right. Sui-san had suggested the name Hitomi."

"I was thinking about the name Atsuko."

"Atsuko?" Mrs. Izumi shook her head. "I don't like that one very much. How about Kasumi?"

"It's such a common name," the man disagreed, "why not Aya?"

"Hmm...Izumi Aya...no, I don't think that'd work out all that nicely. It's not bad, but I'm sure we could come up with something better."

Mr. Izumi and Mrs. Izumi kept discussing names, even though the woman took notice of Koushirou. The baby had awakened and was looking up at Koushirou. She thought it was surprising that the child didn't cry, and was even _more_ surprised that the baby looked to be smiling. Koushirou was smiling back in spite of himself, talking to her gently. As for the other three teens in the room, they were grateful that the redhead had calmed down, especially Jou and Miyako who had to put up with him for so long.

"Hello there. I am your new brother, Koushirou. You may call me 'oniisan' or whatever it is you would like to call me. I'm new at this older brother role and I'm learning as I go along, so if I do anything _completely_ stupid and uncalled for, I didn't mean it, and please let me know so that I may fix it."

Right at that moment, the doctor and the nurse entered the room. "How are you feeling, Mrs. Izumi?" asked the doctor.

She sat up a bit more and gave him a smile. "I'm doing great. The delivery was a fast one."

The doctor nodded in agreement. "So, you two probably know why we're here," the doctor continued.

"We have to get a name for the child now, Izumi-san," said the nurse, who was holding a sheet of paper. "Have you two decided on one?"

"I'm afraid not. Even though my wife and I both promised ourselves to be ready for this, we actually hadn't decided on any girl's names."

"Well, you have to come up with something, so that we can finish up all of the information so that you can register her," the doctor informed them.

"Well, we could always go with Aya," Mr. Izumi bashfully replied.

"Why not the name, *'Ai'?" Mimi threw out. "It's a pretty name _and_ it symbolizes love."

"How about the name *Rio!" Miyako chimed in.

"Umi is a nice name," Jou said.

Yoshie sat there, considering all of the suggestions. She then smiled and looked over towards Koushirou, who was still holding the baby. "I have come to a decision. I've decided to let Koushirou choose."

"_Kou_shirou?" everyone said in surprise.

"_Eh_? ! _Me_? !"

"Yes, I really feel that you should choose the name." She turned to her husband. "Whatever he chooses, we go along with it." He nodded. "Is that okay with you, Koushirou?"

He nodded slowly and gulped. "I-I guess so." He didn't know anything about naming children. He barely knew how to associate with children so young. What was his mother thinking? 'What do I name you? The name has to have some kind of a meaning.' He stared down at the child who looked as if she was about to snooze again. 'You look like you may be a thinker. I bet Sui-obasan will teach you how to play chess and tell you stories about my biological mother and her love for chess, like she does with Kimiko. She's actually teaching her how to play. I wonder if you'll be a good chess player.' He looked back towards Mimi, Miyako, and Jou, still trying to think of a name, and then looked back at the infant. "I know you will grow up to be a smart, responsible person." He then said to himself, 'Just...like...my...mother...' He looked up. "Miki! Can we name her Miki, please?"

"Miki?" asked Mr. Izumi.

"Miki is a wonderful name," Mrs. Izumi said with a smile and a nod. "I like it a lot."

"Yeah, I like it too."

"So, the child's given name will be Miki?" asked the nurse. Mr. and Mrs. Izumi nodded. "Okay, and how do you want Miki written?"

Everyone looked towards Koushirou. "Oh, um...the meaning is 'beautiful princess'," he answered quickly.

"Okay, so that would be…" she began while scribbling. Once done, she showed Koushirou what she'd written, "泉美姫."

"Yes, Izumi (泉) Miki (美姫) written in that way is correct."

"Okay, I'll go get this information written up." With that, she exited the room.

"Hi there, Miki. I hope you are okay with the name I chose for you." The baby had fallen back to sleep. 'That name is very important to me and I'm glad that mother and father weren't against my giving you that name. My biological mother's name was written with those characters.' Koushirou handed Miki back to his mother.

"It means so much to me that you're here, Koushirou, and I'm glad that you named her," she told him proudly.

Mr. Izumi put a hand down on Koushirou's shoulder. "Good job, son."

He gave his parents a weak smile. "W-well, I probably should get going so that you can rest up more, mother. I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to stay here and visit."

"We _all_ should probably go," Jou spoke up. "We're probably over the limit."

"Over the limit?" asked Miyako.

"I'm sure that Mrs. Izumi has too many visitors right now," he explained.

"Oh." She turned to the Izumis. "Congratulations!"

Mimi and Jou spoke up as well. "Congratulations!" they said together.

After the congratulatory responses, the four left, getting out of their attire, and made their way back to the waiting room's entrance. "I'm so glad that everything's over with. I was starting to worry about Koushirou," Jou said.

"You weren't the only one." Miyako smirked, and told him in a whisper, making sure no one else would hear her, "I hope he doesn't act that badly when I have _my_ first child." Jou looked down at the girl, who had started laughing. He didn't know how to respond.

"Yo, Jou!"

Jou turned to see a tall long-haired boy heading his way. "Hey, Eijiro," Jou greeted back. "What are you still doing here?"

"I never left. A few of us were helping out the nurses. Our instructor set it up. Too bad there wasn't much for us to do, especially since they were all male nurses...that evil teacher of ours. Anyway, we're all done here, so we're heading out. We were on our way out until I saw you over here. I told the guys to go on ahead. Want to join us?" He gave Jou a nudge and a sly smirk. "We're going to meet up with Malissa and some of the other girls that were in her group." He laughed. "It'll make up for us having to work with male nurses."

Jou slightly blushed. "M-Malissa-san, eh? Yeah, she's nice."

"Um, sorry for interrupting, but senpai, what about my dinner?"

"You know what, I think I _will_ take you up on that offer!"

The boy ran off with Miyako trailing behind him, who ended up tripping in the process. He didn't let that keep him down, though. He just got right back up and resumed running away from the younger girl.

"You owe me dinner, senpai! You promised and you have the crest trait of sincerity too! You're supposed to live up to your promises!"

"Now _this_ is a funny scene," Eijiro laughed. "Another girl after Jou, and he just doesn't seem to notice it."

Mimi laughed too. When she was younger, she acted the same way around Jou and actually admired him, but she never had a strong romantic interest in him. She was slightly attracted to him when the two were paired together in the Digital World, though; especially since she got to see another side of him which showed off his true strengths and character.

"Ah, Mimi-chan, hey there!"

"Hi, Eijiro-san."

"Why not join us for the evening?"

Mimi glanced over at Koushirou, who was just standing there quietly. "No thanks. You have Miyako-chan. I'll stay here for a while, but thanks for the offer," she smiled sweetly.

He nodded, and said, "okay" and took off after Jou and Miyako. He could take a hint, and he also knew about her and Yamato dating. His sisters were crying when they found out that Yamato had an official girlfriend since they were such "Rabid Yama Fans" and thought it was "so unfair" and wished death on the "girlfriend". He just ignored his younger sisters, always wonderimg why he was cursed with having so many of them, and would personally trade all four of them for his cousin, Eiji, any day of the week.

As for those like Yuuko, Ayame, and Chinatsu, they were pretty much shocked when they found out that Mimi had started dating Yamato. They never really said anything, but even _they_ figured that Mimi would have eventually ended up with Koushirou, especially since Mimi had finally told them why she was upset and why she'd missed Sora's party. Whenever either of them would ask what drew her to Yamato, she would pretty much say, "He's nice", and never say anything more than that. Chinatsu wasn't very convinced and felt it was an act on Mimi's part. She rarely talked about Yamato nor did she ever seem very enthusiastic over their being discussed. Ayame didn't seem to think one way or the other about it. As for Yuuko, who didn't notice a thing, she was slightly envious of Mimi since she had managed to get with "one of the hottest boys in _all_ of Odaiba", but she didn't hold it against her.

Not only were the girls heartbroken over the pair, but guys were as well. Mimi's main admirers were happy that she didn't end up with "Izumi", but flat out gave up – the majority of them – when they found out that she was hooked up with Yamato.

"So, Koushirou," Mimi began, "what are you going to do now?"

He shrugged. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do. All he knew was that he was probably going to be home by himself for the night. A while back, his father had told him that "when your mother goes to the hospital to have the baby," that he would stay close to her for the first couple of nights at least.

"Well, let's go out someplace, just the two of us, to celebrate the birth of your new sister!"

Koushirou gave her a look, wondering what she had in mind. "If-if you insist, but what could we do? Where should we go?"

"I really don't know. What do _you_ want to do?" she asked innocently. "It doesn't matter. It's your choice."

"Hm, what time is it now?"

She looked down at her watch. "It's a little after 17:00 (5:00)."

He thought for a moment while rubbing his chin. His subconscious seemed to be taking over, and his subconscious – not to mention romance-crazed and more daring side – wanted to ask Mimi out. The same went for Mimi. She _wanted_ Koushirou to ask her out and she was definitely going to accept the offer if he did. She smiled inwardly at the thought. Ever since she'd arrived at the hospital she'd felt that way.

"Um...Mimi-san..."

"Yes?"

He scratched his nose and his cheeks went partially red, and asked, "W-would you like to grab a bite to eat or go see a movie or something?"

"Of course!" she pretty much cheered. She was surprised that the boy had asked, but she was extremely happy. "I'd love to go and I don't care what's playing either. Come on, let's go!"

"Su-sure..."

Mimi, without realizing it, grabbed Koushirou's arm and linked hers with his. It was almost as if she had no control of herself at that moment. She was much too hung up over Koushirou to even care, but Koushirou did stop her. He wanted to inform his father of his plans and wanted to find out what he was planning on doing.

Just as Koushirou had figured, his father was planning on staying overnight with Mrs. Izumi, which meant Koushirou would have the place to himself, not that the boy minded much. After he was done speaking with his father, he rejoined a waiting Mimi. The two ended up going to the movies, but nothing much happened in the romantic sense, even if the two _did_ look as if they could've been out on a date while resisting one another to the point of its being painful...

x x x x

Miyako had grown tired of tailing the doctor in training and had grown tired of Eijiro's accusing her mockingly that she liked Jou. Despite that, she was invited to join them, as they were going out for karaoke, but she wasn't in the mood for it and politely declined, even though Jou had offered to pay for anything she wanted to eat or drink. She didn't feel like being embarrassed any more than what she already had by Eijiro in front of the rest of the two boys' friends, and headed home. She decided on calling the Izumi home, but didn't get an answer, which wasn't too surprising, and just figured that Koushirou was still at the hospital with his folks. She tried his mobile as well, but it went straight to voice mail. The same happened when she tried calling Mimi, so she called her aunt and uncle's place. Her uncle answered and mentioned that she was out with a friend.

'She's with Yamato-san now. She wouldn't be out with Izumi-senpai, would she?'

Miyako knew that Yamato was still practicing with his band, given the time. She was now curious as to who Mimi was hanging out with, but decided to ignore it. She knew that Mimi wouldn't try anything with Koushirou since she had Yamato...well, that's what she hoped, anyway. 'Izumi-senpai is probably just walking her home since Yamato-san isn't around...'

The girl fidgeted with her phone, and decided to call Hikari to see what she had been up to and to tell her about Mrs. Izumi's baby, as she'd forgotten to earlier.

Hikari had been dating Takeru just as long as Yamato had Mimi. Takeru and Hikari had been a bit quiet over their dating one another in the very beginning, but seeing as how they couldn't really keep it secret, they were a bit more open about it. Pretty much everyone approved of the relationship, even though Taichi was skeptical over it at first. He knew that Takeru was an okay guy and a nice boy and knew he wouldn't purposely hurt Hikari in any way, but he still had a difficult time accepting the fact that his baby sister was in a dating situation in general. At times, he still felt that he should watch over her and protect her.

The only person who was upset over the two getting together was Daisuke. He still liked Hikari a lot, even though he had calmed down with his obvious crush on her tremendously over the years. He was jealous that Takeru had gotten with her, but knew there wasn't anything he could do about it to get Hikari to like him the way he obviously liked her, but he did feel it was a bit unfair how he tried hard to get the girl's attention and how it had always failed him. Whenever anyone asked him how he felt about Takeru and Hikari being a couple, he usually gave a neutral response and a shrug or acted like it didn't bother him, which Ken noticed. Even though Takeru had "won" in a manner of speaking, he didn't have any real ill feelings towards Takeru since he still valued him as a friend and how both were important to him, but at times, he still found it awkward to be around both Takeru and Hikari at the same time, even after all this time.

"Hey, Hikari-chan!"

"Oh, Miyako-san, hi there. What's going on?"

The older girl went on to tell Hikari about her afternoon with Jou and Koushirou at the hospital, causing Hikari to laugh at every detail...

x x x x

Later on that evening...

"That was a nice movie," Mimi said in a cheerful manner.

"Yeah, it was," Koushirou reluctantly agreed. "It wasn't an *SF movie, but it was okay, I guess."

"I know you prefer those types of movies, but there weren't any playing. I hope you didn't mind watching a drama-based movie."

"I didn't mind going. It had a decent storyline. I'm glad you invited me along."

"I didn't invite anyone," Mimi smiled mischievously, "_you_ did."

He put his hand behind his head bashfully. "Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I? Hehe."

She nodded as the two continued the walk home, discussing the finer points of the film. The first place they arrived at was Koushirou's apartment complex.

"So, what do you want to do now to end our...evening?"

"Well, probably just head home, since there really isn't much more we _can_ do. I would also like to check up on my mother again to see if she's doing okay. I have to look up the number. I could walk you home if you'd like."

"Since we're already at your place, I _could_ stick around for a while."

"Okay."

The two headed to the Izumi's apartment. Koushirou led her to the living room to the couch. "Have a seat. Would you like something to eat or drink? I know that all we had were snacks at the movie and you never did get a full meal. I apologize for that."

"That's okay, I'll be fine," she insisted while patting the seat beside her, smiling sweetly. "Why don't we talk for a bit? It's been a while."

"S-s-sure," he stuttered while nervously taking the seat beside her. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"How about we talk about us?"

"_Us_? !"

She nodded. "For the past few months, we haven't talked much. This is the perfect time to."

"Yeah, I guess, but what's there to talk about concerning us?"

"Well, I think we should spend more time together, just the two of us," she blushed slightly.

Koushirou blinked. "You _do_? !"

"We rarely do anymore outside of mandatory times, like for school cleanings and anything involving our class."

"But what about Yamato-san?"

"What _about_ him? You and I are friends, and friends should spend time together." Her blush grew an even deeper crimson. "Besides," she uttered quietly, "I-I like spending time with you."

He laughed in slight surprise, oblivious to the girl's slightly reddened cheeks. "I always felt I bored you."

"Don't be silly! You don't bore me! Would I be here right now if you _bored_ me?"

"I-I guess not. You make a good point..."

"Anyway, I just wanted to get everything set up."

"Get what set up?"

"Our study date of course! I was serious. I want to study with you. You can help me with the stuff I have trouble with, and I can help you improve your English a bit more."

"Um, okay, if you insist."

"Yes, I _do_ insist. Now, let's get everything set up, like when we'll be able to study and all that other important stuff."

"Right, but first, do you think we could get something to eat?" Koushirou held his stomach, which was growling loudly.

"Oh, so that's what that sound was," she teased. "Sure, why don't we order a pizza? It's something quick and it's not often we eat pizza."

Koushirou pulled out his phone. "Way ahead of you," he laughed. He dialed up Dominoes and ordered two medium pizzas and a liter of cola. Mimi was surprised over the amount of food he'd bought, and was wondering about the cost. "Don't worry about the price, Mimi-san," the boy told her after closing up his phone, "I'll pay."

"Um...s-sure."

The two got into planning, but the conversation tended to stray as it became more leisurely. After a while, the pizza arrived. While Koushirou paid for the pizza, Mimi set the table. The boy headed in and put the boxes down on the center of the table and started to serve it. Once seated, the two dug into their meals, and went back to talking about when they could set up their study sessions. Mimi smiled gratefully as this particular moment was one that she knew would stick with her for many days to come. Koushirou felt the same way.

After dinner, Mimi cleared the plates and disposed of the pizza boxes. There was nearly nothing left, thanks to the bottomless pit of a stomach Koushirou had. During this, Koushirou had left to call his father to see how things were going. His father explained that his mother was sleeping soundly, and that the baby was doing fine. Mr. Izumi also laughed about how "Yoshie" had gone on, wondering if he'd be okay alone for the night and how maybe someone should stay with him. Content with the information he'd received, he hung up, shaking his head over how his mother had been acting, and rejoined Mimi in the living room, who had just gotten off of her mobile phone. She was letting her aunt and uncle know that she was still at the Izumis.

"Mimi-san?" He headed to the living room to see her sitting on the couch. "Oh, there you are. Thanks for putting everything away. I could've helped you with that. I had actually planned on doing so myself."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I didn't mind," she responded back nervously, even though she had no idea why. "So, how are things with your parents?"

"They're okay. My mother is sleeping, but they were acting like their usual selves."

"Usual selves?"

"Yeah. My parents, in some ways, can be a bit overprotective of me. Even when they're not around, my mother seems to want to baby me. Even when she's not here she does it. My father told me that she insisted that someone stay here with me tonight. Preposterous, isn't it?" He decided to get off that silly topic, as he noticed it was nearing 22:00 (10:00). "Well, would you like for me to walk you home?"

"I'm not so sure," she responded coyly.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Why not let _me_ stay the night?"

Koushirou nearly fell over, feeling as if a heart attack was coming on. "_What_? ! ? !"

"Your mother said that she wanted someone to stay with you, so why not have _me_ stay over since I'm already here?"

"Um, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," he responded, still surprised over what she had suggested.

"Why not?"

Koushirou remained quiet. In reality, he wasn't sure how he would react around Mimi if she stayed the night, and was actually concerned over possibly embarrassing himself in front of her. It wasn't like they were children stuck in the Digital World anymore where he didn't care about how he acted in front of her or where he never had such adult-like thoughts. He also wasn't sure where things would _lead_ if she were to stay over. He wasn't positive as to what, but something almost happened back at the hospital between the two of them...who knows what could happen without anyone there to interrupt things, even though he would try his hardest for things not to happen, and just always keep his guard up.

"Well?"

The boy shook his head; he really couldn't say much of anything, as he didn't have a _good_ reason, and he definitely didn't want to share what he _truly_ felt and thought. "You don't have any extra clothing with you."

"Don't you have something I could wear to bed?"

"Y-yes…I g-guess you could wear something of mine….but…um…"

"But what?"

"Wh-what about your aunt and uncle? Shouldn't you talk to them first? What if they disapprove?"

"Why would they?"

"I-I'm not sure, but they could disapprove."

"They won't...so, can I stay over? I could even prepare a nice breakfast for us in the morning," she smiled sweetly.

That smile caused Koushirou's heart to skip a beat, and his mind wandered to an elegant Mimi preparing him breakfast. His face went a little red, but he still couldn't see Mimi's folks allowing her to stay over. "I...guess..." he told her slowly, not wanting to argue. 'Mr. and Mrs. Nishimura couldn't possibly agree to this.'

"Great! I'll go call them now!"

To Koushirou, the girl looked more excited and happy than he'd seen her in a while. 'What are we getting ourselves into?'

Mimi took out her phone again, and phoned back her aunt and uncle. Her aunt answered, and she explained wanting to stay over at the Izumis, and that it was okay with Koushirou's parents. Once done, she hanged up.

"See, I told you they'd let me stay."

"I'm sorry, Mimi-san. If your aunt and uncle feel that…_what_?"

"I can stay!"

"R-really?" He couldn't believe that her folks were going to allow her to spend the entire night, unsupervised, with a teenaged boy with raging hormones.

"Why are you surprised?"

"N-no reason," he answered hastily.

"So, let's talk some more," she smiled.

"S-sure," he nodded nervously.

With that, the two returned to the living room and Koushirou soon relaxed. He talked with Mimi for the majority of the night while watching a little bit of television. The two were definitely enjoying themselves, and Koushirou even opened up a bit to tell Mimi about what had happened between him and the Izumis all those months ago after he'd returned from Shiokaze Park and Odaiba Beach. No prompting from Mimi was even necessary. There was one topic that both seemed to have a silent agreement to avoid at all costs, and that was their kiss still.

At about 1:00, Mimi and Koushirou had both grown sleepy and tired. Koushirou offered for her to stay in his room and that he would go pull out a futon and go sleep in the spare room. Mimi, of course, wouldn't hear of it, and told the boy, "It's your room! I don't want to kick you out of it. Let's just share it."

Koushirou's heart nearly leapt out of his chest over such a suggestion. He started to protest, until Mimi said that she'll sleep on the futon while he slept in the bed. He shook his head, and told her that she could have his bed, while he would take the futon (due to Mimi's being so insistent of their sharing). After a game of janken to determine who would get the bed (since both kept offering it to one another), Koushirou put out the futon for him to sleep on (as he'd won) while Mimi went to bathe. He gave her a towel, a wash cloth, an extra toothbrush that his folks always kept on hand for guests, and one of his old shirts, since she didn't have any extra clothing. Since he was bigger than she was now, it would fit kind of long on her.

While Mimi was in the washroom, Koushirou sat at his desktop, wondering what to make of all that was currently going on and all that had gone on. Why was Mimi there? Why didn't he urge her away? Was something going to happen? He shook his head; he wouldn't allow anything to happen. Yamato would murder him if he actually did.

'Everything will be fine,' he kept telling himself as he changed into his bed clothes. After he was done, he headed to his futon, and stared up at the ceiling, his mind wandering. It wandered so much that he didn't even notice that Mimi had entered the room. Koushirou sat up quickly. "Oh, Mimi-san, I didn't see you there."

"It's okay. I was just wondering if you had a hair dryer."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot where mother keeps it. I never use it."

"Hm, that's okay."

She went to her bag, and pulled out a pink hairbrush. She sat down at Koushirou's computer desk, and started to brush it thoroughly. The two remained quiet as Koushirou obliviously stared at the girl, awestruck over how beautiful she looked to him and how annoying it was that he actually felt that way. After regaining his composure, he broke the awkward silence.

"So, are you prepared to go to bed?" asked the boy nervously.

"After I finish brushing."

"W-well, okay. I'll go and um, brush my teeth. Please feel free to get into the bed and I'll return."

Mimi giggled slightly. He was sounding much too formal for her liking, but found his nervousness, as always, a cute trait of his. "Okay," she smiled sweetly. "Hurry back."

Koushirou, a mortified look etched to his face, rushed out of the room. After brushing his teeth for longer than necessary, his thoughts going wild, he made his way back to his room, his heart racing. He saw that Mimi was snuggled up warmly in his bed, her hair tied back in what looked to be a bun, and also noticed that the futon he'd placed on the floor was within a closer vicinity of his bed than he'd left it. 'Did she move it cl-closer?'

"Oh, you're back," the girl greeted. "I moved the futon a bit closer. You had it all the way towards the door. It'll be more comfortable for you here."

"Y-yeah, I-I guess it w-would be. Th-thank you, Mimi-san."

The boy walked over and took his place on the futon. He pulled the covers over him while looking straight up at the ceiling. He wasn't going to look in Mimi's direction.

"Oh, the light, want me to get it?"

"Oh no, that's okay, Mimi-san. I'll get it." The boy rushed to shut off the light and then back to his futon, same position as before. 'I won't look at Mimi-san, I won't look at Mimi-san…' The fact that she was wearing his shirt which showed off her slender legs was just way too distracting. He was really glad that she was underneath the covers so that he wouldn't have to see.

Mimi stared down at Koushirou, who looked extremely tense to her from the bit she could see of him in the nearly dark room, as the moon was up high and shining faintly through the window. She couldn't help but give off a whimsical smile, and had an urge she was definitely prepared to act on.

"K-Koushirou-kun," she began slowly, "could I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, I guess so."

"Well, could you…maybe…hold my hand?" Mimi heard the boy choke on the air and cough. "Are you okay?" she asked in alarm.

"Y-yeah, s-sure," he coughed. After he was done, Koushirou asked, "Wh-why do you want me to hold your hand?"

"W-well, um," she felt herself blushing over the lame reason she was trying to come up with, "I always sleep better when I have something to hold onto. When the Digimon were here, I'd sleep while hugging Palmon."

"W-w-well, if it'll help you to-to sleep, I su-suppose it would be okay to um maybe hold your hand if it'll be helpful and I would hate to cause you to be deprived of sleep just because you didn't have anything to hold onto-"

"Thank you," Mimi interrupted while lying down on her stomach. She reached her left hand down towards Koushirou, who was still lying face up. Shakily, and while sweating profusely, Koushirou took her small hand into his left hand. His heart was about to leap out of his chest at this point. He just knew he was going to die that night. After a while, though, he calmed down. Holding her hand, to him, felt right…almost natural. He was, of course, questioning what was going on in his mind, but realized that he just had no way of answering it.

"Koushirou…"

His thoughts interrupted, he asked, "Y-yeah?"

"You're a great guy. I really appreciate you and really glad that we're…friends."

To Koushirou, the way Mimi had referred to them as "friends" sounded a bit forced and strained, but he shrugged it off. He attributed it to her being possibly tired. "I-I'm glad we're friends too," he responded back lamely.

"Good night, Koushirou."

"G-good night, Mimi-san…"

~x~x~x~x~

The next morning, Koushirou awoke, wondering if the previous night had been a dream, but when he looked to his side, he saw that his hand was still embraced with Mimi's. His mind raced some, wondering what would happen if Yamato had managed to find out about the entire situation, despite the innocence of it. He shook off the thought. He wanted to let go of Mimi's hand, but didn't want to wake her either. He then overheard her mumbling something in her sleep, but most of it was in English. The only thing he did catch was her saying, "Koushirou-kun," in an angelic voice. Surprised, he jerked his hand away as gently as possible. He needed a shower. He needed to think and rid himself of his current frustration. After quickly gathering his clothes, he headed to the washroom.

Time Koushirou left the room, Mimi cracked open her eyes and stopped pretending to be asleep. She'd awaken much earlier, but was so content with holding the sleeping boy's hand, she refused to let go and just remained there, staring down at him, a blissful smile on her face. She couldn't explain the jubilant feeling she was experiencing when being near him in this way, but she didn't want it to end.

'Well, time to prepare something quick for breakfast while he's in the bath.'

The girl rushed out of the room, and headed to the kitchen area to see what the Izumis had that she could quickly prepare. Maybe a meal with a western and eastern feel to it. She saw that the Izumis had rice, ingredients for miso soup, eggs, bread, and other things. 'Maybe I'll make rice and miso soup and omelets….with ponzu! I know he likes ponzu…but would that clash in flavor? Nah, he'll like it. Oh, I better hurry with the rice!'

With that Mimi brought out a measuring cup and measured out enough rice for about three to four servings. She cleaned it thoroughly, but when she was about to put it into the rice cooker, she saw that it was plugged in. She opened it and saw that there was rice already prepared. 'Wow…Mrs. Izumi must've cooked this yesterday. I guess it's been kept warm all this time. I guess I'll just put this other rice aside and get started on the soup and the eggs.'

The girl happily got to work, boiling water, cracking eggs, and pulling out dishes. She smiled triumphantly and proudly as she continued with the meal preparation. Meanwhile, Koushirou, a bit calmer, headed back to his room to put his pajamas away. He was surprised to find his room empty, but soon understood when he sniffed the air. The aroma of eggs filled it. The boy made his way to the kitchen. He rubbed his eyes to see Mimi preparing omelets…while still wearing his shirt.

"Mi-mimi-san," he managed to get out while partially gawking.

"Oh, Koushirou! Good morning," she smiled to him sweetly.

"G-good morning," he answered back, trying his best to divert his attention elsewhere.

"Thanks for letting me stay over. I did promise to make you breakfast, and here we are. I'm just finishing up."

"Th-that's nice."

On the counter, Koushirou noticed six dishes. Two of them held the omelet, two bowls of quick miso soup, and two bowls of rice.

"If you'd like, Mi-mimi-san, I c-could set these on the table for you while you…um…get properly dressed."

She looked down and laughed. "I was in such a hurry, I forgot to change. The omelet on the left is yours."

With that, the girl rushed back to Koushirou's room to change, while the redhead set the dishes on the table. He was still having a tough time processing all that was happening. When done, he seated himself down while waiting for the girl.

When she returned, she took out two glasses, and a carton of juice, and poured some out for the pair of them. When all was said and done, both dug into their meals. "Itadakimasu!"

"Wow, Mimi-san…this omelet is very good! Did you use ponzu?"

"Yeah." She grew suddenly shy. "I-I remembered that you liked ponzu with your eggs."

"Hm, if I recall correctly, you like something interesting with yours too. Don't you prepare your eggs with…sugar and natto?"

"Y-yeah, but you guys didn't have any natto, but this way is fine. I'm surprised you remembered that."

"Well," the boy laughed, "it is a _strange_ combination …"

"Just like your ponzu," the girl grinned.

After breakfast was done, the two cleaned up a bit and chatted a bit more about what to do with the rest of their day. Mimi insisted that they just hang together in the Digital World and maybe catch up with the other Digimon or even Gennai. When asked why the Digital World, Mimi pointed out that traveling there was more accessible and cheaper than actually going out. The boy couldn't argue with that and agreed, also hoping to run into Gennai to run some theories past him.

~x~x~x~x~

It was now the early evening and the two were making the trek towards the Nishimura home. Mimi wanted to spend another day with Koushirou, but both Mimi's aunt and uncle forbade it. She was a bit grumpy over it, but decided to just let it go, but she was still a bit quiet during their walk.

"Well, here you are, safe and sound."

"Yeah, here I am," she muttered dully.

"So, um, th-thanks for staying with me yesterday and preparing breakfast this morning and also for coming to the hospital. I'm sure my mother truly appreciated it. I was also glad for the time we spent with Gennai today in the Digital World and the lunch you made for us was really tasty."

"No problem," she replied with a forced smile. "I was glad to do all of those things. I wish I could do it more."

"So, I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, and you _will_ join me for lunch."

He gave her a timid smile. "Yeah, I'll join you for lunch, but if by some crazy coincidence, Yamato-san comes to visit the school right at lunch time and doesn't want anyone else around, I'll leave."

"You know that's not happening, and if he was actually sick of all of our friends," she laughed, "he'd have kicked Yuuko-chan, Ayame-chan, and Chinatsu-chan away a long time ago."

"I supposed that's true."

"You're more of a friend to him than they are."

"That's also true…"

She smiled at him. "You worry too much. I don't know why you of _all_people would fear hanging around Yamato."

He shrugged, about to say something, but the front door was opened, and caused him to be startled by that of a tall man. "Welcome home," the friendly man greeted.

"Hi there, uncle."

"You should come in now, Mimi. We're about to have dinner."

"Okay."

"Would you like to join us too, Koushirou-kun?" Mimi's uncle asked.

He shook his head. Mimi turned to face the boy and gave him a sweet smile, one that he'd grown to love. "I'll talk to you later then. I can't wait until your mother comes home with the baby!"

"Yeah, I'll see you later too, Mimi-san. Good night, Nishimura-san."

The two waved to him as he walked off, his hands stuffed into his pockets. As he walked away, he stared up at the sky and chuckled lightly to himself over the irony of the past couple of days. He then closed his eyes and sighed. 'I guess that means Mimi-san is still with Yamato-san…no matter how much it bothers me and how much I'm against it…' He stared back at the house. "I guess this is what they call fate." He smiled slightly, even though it was partially forced. "If this is what Mimi-san wants, then this is what she deserves. If she feels truly happy, then I shouldn't interfere, and when she's happy, that makes me happy…I suppose…" He looked up at one of the windows, realizing that it was Mimi's. 'Goodnight, Mimi-san. I wish you the best with Yamato-san. It's been months, and you two are…I guess…still going strong. I'll just have to accept the fact that despite your act, that you must be genuinely happy, and that I have officially lost you, even though I never officially had you. I just wish I wasn't so shy…I wish that…I could tell you just how much I really like you…as more than a friend…'

He then turned and headed home…

~x~x~x~x~

A few days later, Mrs. Izumi returned home, along with the new addition to their family. Mr. Izumi had gone to fetch her. He stayed with her the first two nights, but after that he'd returned home and stayed with Koushirou.

"You're back!" Koushirou exclaimed after coming home from school, seeing his parents' shoes by the door. He rushed to the living room area to see both his parents sitting on the couch.

"Yes, we sure are," Mrs. Izumi greeted. "How did you manage by yourself before your father came back?"

"It was okay, but how are _you_ feeling? Do you need rest? Do you need to lie down?"

"She's fine, Koushirou," his father laughed. "Stop worrying."

Koushirou noticed that his mother was holding the baby. He walked over towards them and looked down. "She's still so tiny," he stated breathlessly.

"She's going to be like this for only a short while, so you better get used to her," Mrs. Izumi told him.

"Would you like to hold her?" his father asked.

"Yes, I could really use the practice since I am now officially her brother."

The boy sat down next to his mother, who handed the infant to him. He remembered what was told to him while at the hospital regarding holding babies, but this time he didn't need any help. The baby was awake, and almost looked to be studying him. After a short moment, she smiled.

"Miki-chan must really like you," Mrs. Izumi noted. "She seems so content whenever you're around and even at the hospital, she seemed to smile like she is now. For a child this young, it's a bit odd."

"I guess she senses something about Koushirou. Maybe to her, he's special in some way."

Koushirou didn't think much of it, and wondered what all their futures would entail as both his parents huddled around the two, admiring the new addition to their now complete family…

Author's Note

Note 1: The names that Mimi and Miyako threw out (Ai and Rio) aren't original. Maeda Ai, as it's been mentioned earlier, voiced Mimi and Natsuki Rio voiced Miyako.

x x x

Note 2: An "SF movie" is short for Science Fiction movie.

Fic Chapter Changes

I added in the speech contest stuff with Mimi as well as the club activity information and how after a certain point of the year, third-year students don't have to participate in club activities since they're busy concentrating on the upcoming exams, which are held in February and March, and in some cases, to my knowledge, as early as January, but seems that's the case for private high schools (January/February).

This change is actually a correction. At the part where Mimi asked Koushirou to join her for lunch, the cause for his being nervous and uneasy in doing so was because of Yamato's usually being around to have lunch with her. For the time this story takes place, Mimi wouldn't be having lunch with Yamato since they're in different schools now.

I changed Miyako's complaining over the hospital food. Originally, I had her say, "These muffins are hard as a rock, the Macaroni & Cheese looks like it was cooked in yellow paste, and what kind of a hospital serves Jello that requires one to have teeth just to eat it! Jello is supposed to be soft, not hard and gravelly, like dried over cement!" For the record, though, Japanese hospitals do serve ramen and soba and meals like that, and having had to go there when I got sick, I experienced that firsthand.

I changed how long it was since Mrs. Izumi had the baby. Originally, I think I said only about 20 minutes or something, but figured an hour would be more appropriate.

I had Ms. Nagataki leave earlier than what she did originally. I had her around for the name debate. I decided to have her leave earlier than that because of Kimiko, as it was mentioned. Originally, she left the room along with Jou and the others. She then told them a few things and then headed off.

I added in the two ordering pizza for dinner. Originally, they didn't have anything.

Of course for the original story, Mimi's aunt and uncle forbade Mimi from staying over and Koushirou ended up walking her home that night. As you can see, they allowed her to stay over (because he was a childhood friend). Given the situation, I do find it realistic enough where they would allow it. Just a gist I get having been in Japan and stuff. Anyway, he ends up walking her home the next day, where they did forbid her from staying an extra night.


	31. 31 Breaking Up is Hard To Do

Hey again everyone. I hope you all had a very nice Christmas, if you celebrate it. I know I did and here's a Christmas day treat for you, although my computer is still messed up, but I _am_ trying my best to get this story finished. I'm not even sure when I'll be able to get the next chapter up since I do literally have to type it. I always write in a notebook first and then type it up from there.

Anyway, we're getting into the extra stuff now. These upcoming chapters take place in December and just like in the Adventure 02 series, all of the kids are at a concert show being performed by the Teenage Wolves. I hope you enjoy it, but I must warn you that just like the _Never End_ chapter, there will be the drama and tension, etc., between Yamato and Mimi and Koushirou and Mimi (sort of). You'll see, and I hope that these new additions won't be too boring or anything like that. Oh yeah, many of the characters will show up for it too, such as Eijiro, Malissa, and Mimi's three main friends. I had fun with them too.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 11; Second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 10; First year of High School)

Koushirou/Mimi: 15 (Year 09; Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 14 (Year 08; Second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 07; First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 05)

Chapter 31: Breaking Up is Hard To Do… 

Both Christmas and New Year's was right around the corner, and Koushirou's parents were preparing for Miki's first Christmas. Mrs. Izumi had ordered a big Christmas cake and Mr. Izumi even wanted to do the whole Santa Claus thing and dress up. Koushirou couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever done that for him, but even if he had, Koushirou had no recollection of it. Christmas day was going to be an interesting event this year for his family with the new addition, that's for sure, but aside from the Izumis going all out this particular year for Miki's sake, the teens were going to attend the big Christmas concert in Aqua City. This had become a tradition for them, especially since the Teenage Wolves was always invited to perform every year since the group debuted. As for the younger members of the group, they usually ended up spending it with Ken in Tamachi, which had grown into a tradition for them…his yearly Christmas party with his closest and most valued friends.

Even though the older Chosen Children attending the concert was a regularly, yearly thing, as Yamato's group had been asked to return each time, this year there were a few additions to the group. Both Malissa and Eijiro came along with Jou, and Mimi was there this year, and accompanying her was Yuuko, Ayame, and Chinatsu. Last year, Mimi had gone back to New York for both Christmas and New Year's. She'd promised her parents that she would. This year, however, she decided to remain in Odaiba. She wanted to join in on some of her friends' fairly new yearly Christmas traditions as well as her aunt's. Going to the concert sounded like it was going to be a blast, but with the way she was currently feeling, she'd hoped that she would be able to fully enjoy it.

Everyone was sitting in the bleachers, waiting for the concert to begin. Mimi and her three friends sat in one spot, Jou, Malissa, and Eijiro were in another, much to Jou's insistence since Eijiro kept constantly flirting with Yuuko, and the last group in another nearby spot consisted of Taichi, Sora, and Koushirou, all holding their partners, along with Gabumon, who was sitting next to Taichi and Agumon. During the wait, Yuuko, Ayame, and Chinatsu understood why Mimi and the others were a part of the "Chosen Children Club" and Malissa and Eijiro discovered the true reason why Jou managed to remain such good friends with Taichi and the others after all these years.

Yuuko saw Jou's Gomamon and rushed to him before Mimi could protest. She just found him to be "so irresistibly adorable". She started to hug on him tightly and asked where Jou and the others got their "cute dolls" from. Everyone seemed to hold their breaths as Gomamon started to turn red due to the current lack of air.

"Um, c-could you please give him back to me," Jou had nervously requested.

Yuuko just kept squeezing the water-mammal Digimon tighter and tighter. Agumon and the others shuddered, glad that they weren't in his situation.

"I'll tell you if you give him back," Jou had told her timidly.

The words didn't even register in her mind. "He's just _so_ cute!" the girl squealed as she snuggled up more with Gomamon.

"Oh Jou," Eijirou began, "just let the cutie hold it. It's just a stuffed animal."

"But-" Jou wasn't able to get anything more out, as Gomamon had finally reached his breaking point.

"PUT ME DOWN! I CAN'T BREATHE!"

Yuuko's eyes went wide in shock as she roughly dropped him. Malissa backed away slightly, Ayame and Chinatsu were speechless, and the always cool, calm, and collected Eijiro's mouth was hanging open. He pointed a shaky finger at the creature who was glaring at a sorry-looking Yuuko, who still couldn't seem to find her voice.

"Jou! What the hell _is_ that thing?"

Jou groaned in exasperation, and the entire group gave a condensed version of the story about their adventure in the Digital World, and each of the Digimon introduced themselves as discreetly as possible, minus a certain disgruntled Digimon with big paws, who Jou ended up introducing. Eijiro calmed down after hearing the story, and mentioned how for the longest time, that his younger cousin, Eiji, had gone on constantly about "when monsters attacked" back in 1999, but always brushed it off, just as the rest of his family did. They all figured she just had a wild imagination.

Neither Yuuko nor Ayame had any suppressed Digimon-related memories. Malissa had never encountered them either, but she had an instant liking of Gomamon, especially after he started to come around after Yuuko hastily apologized. Chinatsu mentioned vaguely remembered being held at Tokyo Big Sight and some "vampire thing holding up a strange-looking cat with big yellow paws, talking about an 8th Child." She figured it was all some crazy dream because when she woke up, "the monster and the cat were gone". "It seemed so real, but everyone kept telling me that I had to have dreamed it. It was too weird to have been real."

The others were glad that Eijiro, Malissa, Yuuko, Ayame, and Chinatsu didn't have a bad reaction to the Digimon, but it was still a shock for them that such things existed. Yuuko was also a bit envious that even "Miya-chan" had a Digimon partner.

After everyone was settled down once again, the concert finally began. There were many amateur groups, mostly those from the Odaiba area, though. Everyone played with loads of energy, giving it their all. You couldn't help but see the effort that everyone was putting into their performances. It was very passionate.

After a while, the Teenage Wolves took center stage. There was a lot of applause for the local band. As the lead singer, Yamato announced that the group was going to perform two never before heard songs. Most of the female audience members screamed and clapped in excitement.

After performing their set list of songs, the four started to perform their newer songs. Mimi missed the name of the songs over the squealing fangirls, but focused on the lyrics of the first heartfelt, melancholy song, and the emotion Yamato was putting into it through his singing. Listening to the song caused the young girl's mind to wander to nearly a month ago where both she and *Yamato had officially broken up…

x x x x

It was a cold, windy November day as Yamato and Mimi walked through the park, completely bundled up. The two had just come from lunch, and since Shiba Park was nearby, Yamato suggested that they go for a walk. Despite the chilliness, it was still nice and sunny out. Mimi agreed to it.

As they walked, Yamato did the majority of the talking while Mimi half-heartedly listened, as her mind was elsewhere…or rather on someone. The girl kept thinking back to the time she'd stayed overnight at the Izumis while Mr. & Mrs. Izumi were in the hospital. She'd enjoyed it very much, and wanted more than anything to experience it again. She loved the time she'd spent with Koushirou that evening. They'd gone out to see a movie, had dinner together, and spent the majority of the night together talking. She liked waking up the next morning to see him near her and liked the fact that he'd held her hand the entire time. She couldn't explain it, but his presence made her feel calm and protected and it made her heart skip beats. What she'd enjoyed most, was that Koushirou, for once to her, was becoming more open. She was reaching the point of feeling as if she truly knew him…what may have motivated him. She yearned for more and it was getting to the point where it was becoming more and more difficult to stay and continue her charade with Yamato. She felt that it was unfair to the both of them, especially Yamato, since she couldn't feel the same for him the way he, apparently, did for her.

"Mimi?"

"Oh, huh, what?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for a while now. I was asking what you wanted to do after the Christmas concert next month." He scratched his nose. "It _will _be our first Christmas together."

"Oh, who knows," she replied distantly.

Yamato stopped walking, as did Mimi. He eyed her suspiciously. "Is something wrong? You've been kind of quiet since lunch."

Mimi felt herself frown. What should she tell him? She _def_initely didn't want to admit to him that a certain redhead was on her mind too much and too often for her feelings to go beyond friendship towards the blonde. As much as she _truly_ wanted to reciprocate those feelings, she just couldn't. Her heart was still attached to the redheaded computer whiz.

"Yamato-san," she sighed heavily, "we need to talk."

"What about?"

Mimi's face went slightly pink from the sudden gust of the chilling wind, and her eyes started to sting. "I-I can't do this anymore," she trembled. "I just can't…it's not fair to you."

"Mimi, what are you talking about?"

Tears started to flow as she continued saying, "It's not fair to you."

"Wh-what? You're not making any sense."

"Ya-yamato-san…I want to break up with you…I can't do this anymore."

The boy stood there, unable to respond. It felt as if someone had slapped him in the face. All he could manage to get out was, "Why?" She spilled her guts to him about how she felt "terrible" for "stringing" him "on" and how after all of this time, her platonic feelings towards him hadn't changed and that she was very unhappy that they hadn't.

Of course the musician was heartbroken and devastated, but not as much as he was angry, but not at Mimi. He was angry at himself for not even noticing how unhappy Mimi was with him. Even the way they got together should have been a sign to him, he felt. He had been the one to initiate it and before she would accept, she had to talk to Koushirou first. The blonde couldn't help but wonder if Mimi really had feelings for the somewhat socially crippled computer whiz. She never came out and said it, but that was his suspicion. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to ask if the reason for her wanting to break it off with him _was_ because of Koushirou. He couldn't ask because he was afraid of what her answer would be and how, in a way, she'd agreed to go into a relationship with him out of pity. His ego just couldn't handle something like that.

He continued listening, taking in all that she'd said. He remained stony-faced and nodded slowly. "You're free," he told her resolutely.

"P-Please don't hate me," she blubbered. "I love you…I always will, but only as a friend. I don't w-want to lose that."

Yamato rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his cold expression lifting slightly. "I believe in friendships as well as preserving them," he began wisely, his speech a bit formal, "but for this, it's a bit more complicated. I value you as a friend, and I always will, but we've _been_ together…it's not like we can take that time back, and it won't change the feelings that I have for you.

"There's no way I could hate you…we've been friends too long for that, but I'll need some time to get through this, Mimi. I think it would be best if we didn't see each other for a while," he finished up quietly.

"Are you sure it's okay? I never meant to hurt you! I really _really_ wish we could stay together, but I just couldn't do it anymore. It just wasn't fair to you! You deserve someone better than me!"

"There's _nothing_ wrong with you! You're a great person! In a way, you're almost selfless! You stayed with me for _my_ sake," Yamato emphasized, even though he was trying his best to hide how hurt he truly was, "and didn't even consider your own! Don't worry about it, Mimi. We-we'll eventually get through this…somehow." He felt awkward giving her a pep talk, even though he felt betrayed and absolutely miserable, but felt he should give her _some_ reassurance that all would be alright, but wished she'd shown off her purity trait in regards to her own feelings in the very beginning, as it would've saved both of them having to go through a break up, but wondered if he came on so strongly that she felt she had no choice _but_ to agree to the relationship. Whatever the reason, though, he knew that he would be reflecting on it for a long time.

Mimi didn't know what to say or do over the bass player's kind words. She ended up throwing herself at Yamato. He, more than anything, wanted to push her away and just run off, as he wasn't sure how much longer he could remain composed, but decided to console the emotionally-drained girl anyway. The two remained embraced while Mimi constantly sobbed, "I'm sorry!" over and over…

x x x x

The girl shook her head, as she went back to concentrating fully on the performance. She continued to enjoy the concert, despite glancing down at Koushirou a few times, who was down a row from her and her friends. She always managed to catch herself. The last thing she wanted was for Yuuko to publically tease her if caught.

After all of the performances were done, the children all gathered and talked excitedly over them. Eijiro even managed to enjoy the Wolves' performance, but was glad that his sisters hadn't been seated near him or they "wouldn't have been able to hear the music over their annoying screeching and cheering." Jou couldn't help but laugh, as he knew just how true that was. He'd witnessed it firsthand when visiting the Tezuka household. Despite being a spacious home, whenever the girls started going on about Yamato and the other band members, they'd squeal with delight, which could be heard by the entire household regardless of where one was within the house.

"What do you guys want to do now?" asked Jou.

Yuuko, who was holding Gomamon, who didn't mind this time, asked with a starry-eyed, hopeful look, "Could we go meet up with Ishida-senpai and the others?" She looked over at Mimi, wondering if she'd object or protest, but Mimi remained quiet.

"Yeah, sure, why not? We should go congratulate them," said Taichi.

"I actually hope we'll be able to." Sora pointed to the queue forming to go backstage. "There are a lot of people there already."

"Should we just leave?" asked Jou.

"I would hate to leave," uttered Malissa quietly.

"We'll be here all night," grumbled Eijiro, "and I don't want to deal with anymore screaming fangirls. You guys can stick around, but _I'm_ not. Tell Ishida and the others that the performance was really good, but those last couple of songs were too sappy and slow for me."

"_What_? !" All of the songs were great!"

Despite her cuteness, Eijiro gave Yuuko a sour look and muttered, "Maybe if you're a girl…" He tied his muffler tighter and shivered slightly. "I think I'm going to head home. Are any of you heading back too? It's too cold to hang around here, and there isn't much we can do now anyway, unless you all want to go to a café or something."

"I wouldn't mind something warm to drink," Taichi looked down to his partner, whom he was holding, and asked, "how about you Agumon?"

"I'd like that, Taichi," squeaked the small reptile.

"Well, I'm actually a little tired," Mimi spoke up distantly. She took out her phone and quickly punched in some characters. Once done, she put her phone away and smiled brightly. "There, all done. I just sent Yamato-san an e-mail saying that he and the others gave a great performance and how some of us were going to go home due to the long line. I also told him that we will all meet up sometime tomorrow to properly celebrate the group's performance."

"I hope Yamato-kun doesn't mind."

"Sora, you worry too much," chastised Taichi with a toothy grin. "It's like Mimi-chan said, we'll just see him and the others tomorrow. It'll be fun, especially since Hikari and the others'll be around."

Sora shook her head as she stared over at Gabumon, who was being held by Jou. "Since we can't get back to Yamato-kun, I guess Gabumon'll have to go home with you and Agumon, unless you can get in touch with Takeru-kun."

"Oh, can Gabumon stay with us, Taichi?" asked a hopeful Agumon.

"I don't want to bother Takeru, so sure. I'll send Yamato a message letting him know that I'm taking you home with me. It should be fun for you, Agumon, and Tailmon."

Gabumon looked a little put out, but nodded. He really wanted to spend it with Yamato.

With everything settled, the kids started to make their ways home, all doing as Mimi had, sending Yamato and the other band members messages congratulating them. During this time, Koushirou felt his phone vibrate. He took it out and saw that he had mail from Mimi. Tentomon was snoozing atop his head during this walk, so it was easy to check it. The message read, "Please meet me in the Digital World at midnight. Same place as before when we met during our summer break. Don't tell anyone. It's okay to bring Tentomon."

Taichi slapped Koushirou on the back time the boy had reached the end of the message, waking up Tentomon in the process. "You're slowing up buddy. Let's get a move on," he laughed.

"Y-yeah, sorry," he hastily apologized, as Tentomon went back to snoozing.

"Anything wrong?" the soccer genius queried.

"No, I'm okay." He looked over at Mimi who was holding Palmon tightly, and also whose expression he couldn't fully read. It seemed almost neutral to him. He quickly replied, "Yes, I will" and put the phone away. He actually wanted to know _why_ she wanted to meet with him, but figured it would've been best if he just spoke with her directly about that. He looked down at his watch, noting that it was now 23:33 (11:33). 'I wonder what she wants to discuss with me. I wonder if I should give my gift to her at that time or tomorrow. It'd be easier than waiting until tomorrow for our Christmas day gathering.'

Author's Notes

Note 1: As I mentioned earlier, this story originally had a sequel to it which I still haven't decided on whether or not to upload. I keep constantly changing my mind because of its actual plot. In the first chapter of it, it was mentioned in passing when Yamato and Mimi had broken up, but of course, never seen or shown. For the story's sequel, the couples are what the epilogue ended with (Yamato x Sora; Ken x Miyako). I wrote that Mimi had broken up with Yamato a short while after Mrs. Izumi had Miki. So, for the most part, even though showing the break up is new, the concept isn't as the break up was always intended.


	32. 32  Chirstmas Eve Confessions

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a very nice holiday. I was really glad that you all enjoyed the last chapter. I am also grateful that you felt sorry for both Yamato and Mimi. That was my intention and goal. I am glad that I succeeded in doing so.

Okay, as for this chapter, by the title, I'm getting the confessions out. I hope you enjoy it and please let me know how I did with them. I hope the pacing was okay and didn't seem too rushed. Only one more chapter, and this story is done.

Oh, something else I must add on in reference to the sequel, A Young Boy's Life in Odaiba, the way this story ends will have no bearing on it. I mentioned back in the first chapter how when I originally wrote Koushirou's Search, that I had two endings in mind. The one for the old story where Yamato and Mimi get together (but implied that they eventually break up, but Koushirou and Mimi never hook up afterwards) and one where the two break up and Koushirou and Mimi end up together (this story's rewrite). The sequel will still follow the original story's events, where Koushirou and Mimi never hooked up, and I have a good reason for it that involves Gennai and Koushirou's helping him.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 11; Second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 10; First year of High School)

Koushirou/Mimi: 15 (Year 09; Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 14 (Year 08; Second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 07; First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 05)

Chapter 32: Christmas Eve Confessions… 

Finally home, Koushirou kept his eye on the time. It was now 23:51 (11:51). He sat at his computer, fidgeting with a small box. He had no idea what had possessed him to buy such a gift for the girl, especially since he'd never given her a Christmas gift before. He'd randomly asked Tentomon if he knew if the other Digimon knew what their human partners wanted for Christmas. Tentomon had told him that aside from Piyomon, Palmon, Hawkmon, and V-mon, that he didn't have a clue. Koushirou focused on Palmon, and Tentomon mentioned a couple of things Palmon had said that Mimi had wanted.

After hearing what it was that Mimi wanted, Koushirou was determined to get it for her. Even though he'd managed to get the gift, he was now starting to grow nervous over giving it to her.

"Koushirou-han," began a curious Tentomon, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing much." He sighed as he stared down at the small box.

Tentomon flew up to get a better look at the box. "Oh, that's the gift you got for Mimi-han. You ended up with her name for that game of hers. I think Palmon said it was called *'Secret Santa'."

"Y-yeah."

"At least you ended up picking her name. I was able to find out what she wanted because of Palmon."

"Yeah, that's true…but right now I'm trying to decide whether I should give her this present at midnight, or if I should wait until our gathering tomorrow."

"Midnight?"

"She wants to meet me at the beach we met at over the summer in the Digital World at midnight."

"Why?"

"I don't know. She sent me an e-mail after the concert to meet her there at midnight and to not tell anyone about it. I have no theories as to why she would want to meet up or why she didn't want me to inform anyone else of the meeting."

"Maybe Mimi-han doesn't want the others around because she wants to speak to you specifically about something private or important."

Although that was the most plausible explanation, it hadn't even come to the computer whiz's mind.

"I don't understand why you seem so nervous. I know you're not used of exchanging gifts, but it's still only a Christmas gift, and Mimi-han is your friend."

"It's almost midnight." Koushirou set the coordinates and brought up a gate screen. He definitely didn't want to touch upon that subject. "Let's go, Tentomon."

"I can come too?"

"Of course. I'm sure Mimi-san is going to have Palmon with her. Besides, she said it was okay for you to come."

With that settled, Koushirou pushed the "enter" key which unlocked the gate. Before going through, he picked up the small gift box, shoved it into his pocket, took in a deep breath, and went through the gate with Tentomon.

After going through, Koushirou opened his eyes, still nervous. "Well, here we are," he looked down at his digital watch, "with two minutes to spare."

"I wonder where Palmon and Mimi-han are."

"Maybe she won't come."

To Tentomon, Koushirou almost sounded hopeful. "What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"N-nothing." His stomach started to do somersaults. He had grown so nervous that he didn't even take notice of his surroundings, like the beautiful full moon shining majestically on the surface of the sea, the serene crashing of the waves, the gentle, summer night breeze, despite the winter chills back in Odaiba, or the long-haired girl standing in the distance holding a shoulder bag staring peacefully out at the ocean with a small plant-like creature by her side…

"Koushirou-han, there they are!"

"So…they…are," he began anxiously. "I guess we should go…"

Tentomon and Koushirou made their way to the two.

"Koushirou, I'm so glad that you came!" Mimi exclaimed.

"Yeah…"

"Hey Palmon, Mimi-han."

"So, um, Mimi-san…wh-why did you want to meet me here tonight?"

"Um, well," she started to kick the sand and stared down at her handbag, "I-I was wondering if I could give you y-your Christmas gift now instead of-of later."

Koushirou felt his face grow hot as he thought of the contents of the small box sitting in his pocket.

"Wow, what a coincidence! Koushirou-han has a present for you too, Mimi-han! You were one another's Secret Santa."

"Both of you decided to exchange your gifts now! You guys were on the same wavelength, Mimi-chan!"

"So we are…" muttered Koushirou.

'I didn't even know that Koushirou was her Secret Santa. I thought Sora was.'

"So you have a gift for me now, too?"

He nodded bashfully and pulled the small box from out of his pocket. "Th-this is for you, Mi-Mimi-san."

"Th-thank you."

x x x x

Palmon took note of her partner, finding it odd how she nervous she was acting. Mimi was anything but the nervous, shy type. She was much too outgoing for that. Tentomon felt the same as Palmon…a bit perplexed. He'd never seen Koushirou act in such a way either around a friend.

"Do you know what's wrong with them?" asked Tentomon who was looking from one to the other.

"I don't know, but they're acting a little like they did over the summer when Mimi-chan invited you and Koushirou here. Mimi-chan was different and anxious before you two showed up. It was a little weird."

"Yeah…after we got here that time, Koushirou-han was really nervous, but he did eventually calm down."

x x x x

"Is it okay to open it?"

"It's up to you," he murmured.

The girl put the gift into her bag and pulled out a nicely wrapped box which had shiny purple/green wrapping paper, and green/purple ribbon. "You can open yours when you want too."

Seeing as how Mimi had put away his gift, he decided to wait on opening his as well. "So…Mimi-san…h-how have you been? How did you like the performances?"

He was actually more curious as to how she managed getting through Yamato's performance. Hearing of the breakup, which he'd randomly heard from Taichi, was a bit surprising. Yamato told Taichi of the break up when he'd asked if both he and Mimi wanted to hang out with him and Sora. In his to the point sort of way, he told Taichi that he and Mimi were no longer together and that "it'd be a waste of time". Taichi didn't know much more than that and didn't care enough to ask.

Even though Koushirou usually didn't pay much attention to that kind of stuff, he was all ears for this and highly curious. Why did they break up? Who had been the one to initiate the break up? As far as he'd known, both were happy…maybe. He always knew that Yamato was, but did always question whether or not Mimi was given her peculiar actions whenever around him, like that time over the summer when she'd invited him and Tentomon out to spend the day with her. Mimi also had never once brought up the subject with him over her break up with Yamato.

"They were all great!"

"It's been a while s-since we've had a lot of time to talk."

"Yeah…"

"Anything more that you'd like to talk about?" Koushirou felt that it was ironic that he was the one trying to get her to talk for a change. He also knew that there had to have been more to this meet up than exchanging gifts. She came across as sounding much too urgent.

Mimi sat down, the boy took suit. She nodded slowly to him as she pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging herself gently. "I did want to talk to you about something."

The same feeling that he had that past spring when Mimi gave him the news how she and Yamato were getting together was back. His stomach was flip-flopping. "What did you want to talk about?"

"W-well," she hugged herself tighter, "maybe…Y-yamato-san…"

'Why him?' the boy thought incredulously. "What about him?"

"You probably know by now that we aren't together anymore."

He looked away from her. "Yeah, I'd heard something about it. Are you doing okay?"

"S-sure…why wouldn't I be?" she replied gently.

x x x x

"Hey, Tentomon," whispered Palmon, "I have this strange feeling that it would be better if we left."

"Why? ! Koushirou-han needs me!" whined the bug.

"Mimi-chan looks like she's holding something back to me. I-I actually feel like a distraction to her," the plant uttered sadly.

"That can't be it."

"Tentomon, _look_ at them! They both look like they want to say something, but seems like they're both holding back! We should leave for a while. Maybe what they have to say is too personal even for _us_ to hear," Palmon sniffled.

"Maybe you _are _right," sighed a defeated, yet stubborn Tentomon, "but I don't want to go."

"Come on, Tentomon, I don't want to either, but I think it'd be better for my Mimi-chan, and if you don't come with me, I'll Poison Ivy you and drag you away!

"Alright, alright," Tentomon grumbled.

x x x x

"W-well…um…I didn't mean that you wouldn't be alright, j-just curious how-how you were do-"

Tentomon cleared his throat loudly. "Koushirou-han, Mimi-han," they turned their attention to the Kansai-ben bug behind them.

"What is it, Tentomon?"

"Palmon had something we needed to do, so we're going to have to go."

"Palmon, what is it that you and Tentomon have to do?"

"Erm…it's a surprise and Tentomon promised to help, but don't worry, we'll still be able to spend Christmas day together, Mimi-chan!"

"Ooo, I love surprises!" Palmon rushed over to hug her. "I can't wait for it."

"Tentomon, how come you didn't tell me that you had to help Palmon?"

In a dull voice, he answered, "I forgot…"

"Eh?"

"Don't worry about it, Koushirou-han." With a sigh of regret, he put his attention back on his green digital companion, who'd just finished giving Mimi one of the biggest, and longest, hugs in the world. "Let's go."

"Thank you _so_ much for your help, Tentomon."

"Yeah, yeah... Bye, Koushirou-han, Mimi-han."

The two watched their partners head down the beach curiously.

"That was strange," Koushirou noted. "I'm surprised he would forget something like that."

"Well, seems we're alone now."

"Yeah, we-we are. Wh-what were you saying before Tentomon made his announcement?"

"I think I was saying that I was okay over my break up with Yamato-san."

"Oh, yeah." He stared out silently at the sea, still feeling uneasy.

"Koushirou-kun," she began suddenly, "how do _you_ feel?"

"Feel?" She nodded. "F-feel about what?"

A blush crept up onto the young girl's face and she shyly replied, "A-About…me?"

"W-well, um…you're a very nice person who is in class 3B at Odaiba Junior High, and you love karaoke, and…"

"That's _not_ what I meant. Those are facts about me…how do you _feel_ about me…about…us?"

Koushirou's heart began to race as thoughts of what he truly felt towards the girl came to mind, but he was still a bit too tongue-tied to get it out. What _he_ wanted to know was what she thought of him. She did date Yamato, after all.

"Is it okay to ask that of you?" he gulped out.

"It's only fair."

"So…um…how _do_ you feel about me?"

Mimi's face grew an even brighter pink as she let go of herself, and started to play with her hands. "I feel that you're a great person. I like pretty much everything about you, even that computer talk I don't fully understand and probably never will. I like the fact that we have fun whenever we're together. I like how we're able to share things with each other despite our differences. I love how open you are with me…and-and my feelings towards you aren't on the level of friendship. They're beyond that, and have been for a very long time…even before we-we kissed. Ever since that time…I've wanted to physically relive that moment…I've _yearned_ for it. My feelings for you are so strong, that I couldn't stay with Yamato-san anymore…"

Koushirou blinked in stupidity. She had pretty much spilled her guts and confessed her feelings. It seemed to just pour all out. He honestly couldn't believe what she'd said. "Um…Mimi-san…"

"You probably don't like me in that way…since I chose Yamato-san…"

"No…that's not true, Mimi-san! I wanted to tell you this for a long time, but I could never bring myself to since it's not like me." He took in a deep breath, and breathed out heavily, his face going red as well. "I-I like you a lot, but the feeling was new to me. I couldn't figure it out at first. I couldn't figure out why being around you made me want to do nice things for you or why you would occupy my mind so much and distract me from my work sometimes. I took on more projects to get my mind off of you. I hated having you on my mind…" Mimi cringed "…w-wanting to kiss you again, especially since I knew you were with Yamato-san. I didn't want to think of you in that way because it-it scared me."

"Scared you?"

He nodded slowly. "With stuff I want to know more about, I usually face them…but there are some things that can't be figured out with logic…and this was one of them…my adoption was the other. Mimi-san, as stereotypical and clichéd as it may sound, I'm-I'm crazy about you…"

"Really? You really feel that way a-about me?"

"Y-yeah."

"So, what happens now?"

Koushirou scratched the back of his head. "I don't know. This is all very strange to me. I've never been in this type of situation before."

"In a way, I never have either."

"But you were with Yamato-san."

"For all of the wrong reasons."

"What do you mean? What reasons?"

"To get my mind off of you," she quietly admitted.

"I'm sorry, Mimi-san…I didn't mean t-"

"It's okay…"

"W-well, it's still surprising that you l-like someone like me in that way…"

Mimi gave him a serious, yet curious look. "You sound surprised."

"Because there are cooler guys around."

"So you're saying that I can only like cool guys?"

"I-I guess so?"

"To _me_ you're cool."

"No way! I'm not cool. I don't have a fan club like Yamato-san," the redhead laughed.

"I don't care! Her face started to go slightly red again as she grabbed his hands. "Like I said earlier, I like you a lot. I-I want us to be together," she finished up, her voice much more confident than what it was earlier.

"Are-are you sure?" the boy stammered. "I-I mean…um…I sorta..um…yeah…would sorta kinda l-l-like th-that too…"

Mimi leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Koushirou's face went red as his heart started to pound erratically. Mimi winked at him. "I didn't draw your name for the Secret Santa game?"

"Um…um…I…um…"

"I guess that answers your question." Mimi giggled and grabbed the boy's arm, scooting closer to him. She then rested her head on his shoulder. Koushirou didn't object or pull away. He felt incredibly light-hearted and happy, despite his denial of all of this being real and wanting to pinch himself to see if this was all a wonderful dream. He shook slightly and nervously interlocked his hand with hers, instinctively resting his head on hers. The two just remained there in silence, staring out at the serenely crashing waves, as no words were needed…

Author's Note

Note 1: I know, odd reason to have a note about Secret Santa. Well, many years ago, I started a Christmas fic that I never did upload here. It was mainly because it was unfinished. It was going to be titled, Secret Santamon. Thinking back to that fic is what made me decide to do the Secret Santa thing here. Besides, in Japan, seems Christmas is mostly associated with romance and couples. Seems only really young kids can get something out of Christmas (Santa-san). Seems the older kids don't do as much, but yeah, that's why I decided to do Secret Santa and had that Mimi initiated it having been in America. I also wanted an excuse to have them exchange gifts and not get into Oseibo, which is an event towards the end of the year where people do give gifts…but since I'm not very familiar with it, I didn't feel comfortable tossing it in here.

Oh, I did have another old Christmas fic that I never did upload (as it was unfinished) also from many years ago (about 2001 or 2002). It was going to be an actual Koumi one. Koushirou and Mimi were older (I think their late teens) and Koushirou was trying to think of what to give Mimi for their first Christmas as a couple together. Maybe I'll go back to it someday. Maybe I'll write that for next year. lol

x x x


	33. 33  Epilogue

Hey everyone. This fic is really winding down now. I'm glad you all stuck with this story, even with all of its errors.

Now, this chapter has another time skip, and it's also fairly short. Sorry about that, though.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Digimon series or franchise. Bandai and Toei have that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Jou: 16-17 (Year 11; Second year of High School)

Taichi/Sora/Yamato: 15-16 (Year 10; First year of High School)

Koushirou/Mimi: 15 (Year 09; Last year of Junior High School)

Miyako: 14 (Year 08; Second year of Junior High School)

Takeru/Hikari/Daisuke/Ken: 12-13 (Year 07; First year of Junior High School)

Iori: 10-11 (Year 05)

Chapter 33: Epilogue…

It was a beautiful, clear night with a windy spring breeze. Koushirou, on the other hand, was much too nervous as he fidgeted and paced around anxiously in his best suit. Even though it was nice and cool, the boy was sweating profusely. He was currently waiting for his lovely date, outside of her home. He was invited into the Nishimura home, but insisted on waiting for Mimi outside. He continued to pace, doubts running through his mind about the dance. Since it was such a hit with the students of the previous year, the PTA allowed the students to host another one after all. Koushirou was surprised that they'd even considered it, but Mimi was ecstatic over it, naturally.

The boy stopped pacing as he thought back to all that had happened within the past year, and had come to the conclusion that the entirety of 2004 was one big emotionally confusing roller coaster. He still couldn't believe that he and Mimi were an official couple, and all they went through to actually get to that point. In some ways, he still felt that it was all a dream and that he'd wake up at any moment just to encounter Mimi and Yamato together again. He shook his head over how silly he was being.

Koushirou glanced down at his watch and then back at the door as more things from the previous year flooded his mind, such as Mimi's almost assault. He was glad that neither of them had to actually appear in court. It was an open and shut case and Doppo was found guilty of assault and convicted appropriately. Koushirou recalled the radiant smile on Mimi's face when that happened, even though she was still with Yamato at that time, as that happened in about May or June of the previous year. He was glad to see that smile of hers again, in that way.

The redhead looked at his watch again, and heard the front door opening. It was time. Mimi stepped out, and Koushirou couldn't help but stare at her beauty. Her wavy hair was hanging down loosely, and her gown was a majestic pearl color. Just like the previous year, she was going for the "rebirth" theme. Her laced gown was sleeveless, and she wore matching gloves that reached up to her elbows. The style was pretty much the same as her other gown, only it had lace this time. To Koushirou she looked like one of those fairy tale princesses.

"W-w-wow, Mi-Mimi-san, you look r-really n-nice."

She smiled to him. "Thanks, Koushirou."

"N-n-no, I-I mean it. You l-look beautiful…like a princess."

The girl blushed slightly. Even though the two had been dating for about a month, officially, she still felt shy whenever he complimented her. "Well, if I'm your princess, then you're my prince," she joked. "You look very handsome."

"Well, um, erm…"

"Never mind," she giggled. "Are you ready to go?"

He nodded goofily. She stepped up to him, and grabbed his hand. The two then began the walk to their school. Along the way, Mimi couldn't help but feel at ease. She was with the guy she truly wanted, but she still felt slight pain whenever Yamato crept up into her mind. The two were back on speaking terms, but it was still slightly awkward. After Mimi confessed to Koushirou how she truly felt, and how he'd done the same, both came to the decision of waiting before officially getting together and being open about it. They didn't become open about until March. Koushirou and Mimi went back to Saizeriya for White Day. When asked by her friends where'd she'd vanished off to, she openly told them of how she and Koushirou had gone out on a date for White Day.

The news of the two being a couple got around their school pretty fast. Of course, the Mimi Fan Club was devastated as they had, once again, lost their chances with the karaoke princess. Chinatsu, Ayame, and Yuuko were surprised, yet not. Even they sensed the tension between the two. As for their Chosen friends, some felt a bit indifferent, given the situation with Yamato. Taichi, who would usually joke around about it, didn't know exactly what to say or how to approach the subject. Sora was happy for them, but was slightly worried about Miyako, as even she'd picked up that she seemed to have something for Koushirou. Miyako was bothered by it, but had slowly, and surely been growing out of her crush with Koushirou due to his never seeing her as a "girl", but when the two hooked up, she still had some feelings left. Yamato still hated himself over the situation and hated the fact that he had railroaded Mimi into a relationship with him, when she obviously preferred Koushirou over him. He still had some hurt pride, but realized that he couldn't do anything about it.

After the long walk, the two were finally at their school, where other students were filing in. "We're finally here," Mimi said while squeezing onto Koushirou's hand.

He nodded, squeezing her hand back. "Mimi-san," he began, "I'm glad you invited me to the dance."

"We haven't even gone in yet, but even if we skip it, I'm just glad I'm here with you…"

Koushirou felt his face going red. "I-I-I'm gl-glad t-too."

Mimi stepped up, and gave the boy a kiss. She didn't care who saw. Koushirou, who was still a bit nervous when it came to kissing in public, gave in. Personally, he wouldn't have minded skipping the dance and just hanging out together, but knew how much Mimi wanted to go. After they broke, Mimi grabbed his hand again, and pulled him along and entered the school and headed to the busy gym, receiving looks of awe and envy. The music was already playing, and Koushirou asked Mimi to dance. She, gladly, accepted it.

'I hope this lasts forever,' the girl thought as they waltzed on the dance floor.

'Being with her like this…is a wonderful feeling. I hope that I will always be able to experience this with her.'

'I hope we'll be together forever…' both thought in unison.

With that, the two danced the night away, glad that the obstacles that stood in their way was no longer an issue…

**The End**

Alrighty. That's the end, but I felt it was terribly written and weak. Oh well. I'm glad that you all stuck around, though. Give yourselves a round of applause. Now the "sorta" sequel to this story is now uploaded for you all to read and I shall warn you now…the first chapter has a long author's note and the second chapter actually officially starts the story. It is called A Young Boy's Life in Odaiba.


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